


Verso

by Kovou



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 18:16:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13440471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kovou/pseuds/Kovou
Summary: A patient with an old connection to House shows up entirely by accident. A case of repressed memories and a fateful encounter at vending machines introduces House and a girl both unwittingly in need of his help and disinclined to take it regardless.Arin Rae is stubborn, afraid of Doctors and on House's radar. Drama ensues. A reworking of an old fict also posted on FanFiction.net





	1. Opening and Prologue

Verso

Disclaimer: We do not own House, Chase, Cameron, Cuddy, Wilson or any other character you care to mention they belong to someone else. The following fict is a purely fictional based on the show however; it is not based entirely on the shows canon. The main fict starts one year before the show in 2003, although House has the full season one team.

Summary: This is a reworking of an old fiction we wrote many moons ago. We talked about the characters and where the story would eventually end a lot. It seemed time to go back and rewrite the story. This is an OC and House centric fiction. There is no romantic involvement and she is not his daughter. Please read and review.

Prologue:

Once upon a time, in a land where things were big, adults ruled and it was a sin to eat too many cookies before dinner, there lived a small girl. She lived with her Daddy who laughed lots, told jokes and smelled of peppermint and her Mommy who smiled, spoke softly and stroked her hair while she slept. She was a happy inquisitive child who liked to watch creation, drinking in everything she could see, touch, taste and smell as if afraid that she would miss a crucial moment. And from the first time her small bell like voice chimed out 'why?' demanding to know more from the world around her that just was her parents knew she would one day be destined for great things.

They were the centre of her entire existence and she was theirs, and for a time they were happy together but in the real world darkness is not always overcome by light and more often than not fairy tales, and those in them, must come to an end.

October 12 1990.

It had always struck her in her long and arduous four years of life how annoying the wind was outside but not on the inside. As she lay amongst the blankets and soft downy pillows of the giant bed and listened to it howl angrily somewhere far off behind the huge red curtains, it came to her that the air inside was very still compared to its cousin.

The stillness did not frighten her nor did the dark of the room, for it was night time and night time was always dark…there was no point in being afraid of something that always happened. No, she was not afraid of the wind or the stillness, if anything they made her feel safer, warmer and oddly at peace.

She sat up under her covers and tilted her head listening. The howling of the wind seemed to be creeping into the house somewhere ruining the stillness, and an overwhelming need to get up and go see overcame her.

The soft pad pad of her feet in the hall carpet brought no one running to cart her back off to bed. She followed the corridor towards the room with the big chairs that smelled of Grandfather's aftershave and tobacco. Her eyes peered around the great oak door, her eyebrows contracting slightly at what she saw there.

Granny sat in a chair, hunched and shivering with her face in her hands as if she was cold. To her right Grandfather stood leaning on the mantle of the fireplace where she hung her stocking at Christmas for Santa. He looked like the cold marble of the fireplace itself, holding his pipe but not smoking it. The room was chilled despite the roaring fire that flickered behind Grandfather.

At the big bay window, the rain lashed relentlessly down obscuring the night in a veil of water and reflecting the room back in on itself. A clock chimed somewhere and she stopped to count. Ten….ten times it rang, was that very late?

She jumped as the ringing grew louder into a shriek and huffed a breath of relief and embarrassment when Grandfather stopped it simply by picking up the telephone.

"Yes this is he…" He rumbled around his pipe. His jaw worked as he chewed its end while he listened. That was odd; she could not ever remember him doing that before. Just as she was wondering why, his expression changed to one she could not place, one she did not have a name for and he spoke again.

"Of course. No we understand….I want the best possible care. Of course, we will meet you there…but I don't think it best to bring my granddaughter….." he trailed off and removing the pipe from his mouth grandfather clenched it. "I understand. Yes. "He put the phone down and replacing the pipe chewed for another minute.

She frowned again and pushed slightly further into the room. He looked up and saw her but did nothing. Instead, he crossed to Granny and placed a hand on her shoulders.

"Elizabeth." He said gently. Granny looked up at him then followed the direction he looked. Her face was red, her eyes tired and watery like she was crying…but Granny never cried.

The older woman twisted pearls on her neck then quickly, fluidly crossed the room to her.

She had time to wonder if Granny had been cutting onions and that was why she was crying before she felt herself enveloped into a hug. The soft rhythmic stroking on her pyjamas wiped the thought from her mind. "Oh petal…." Granny said and shook slightly as she hugged.

October 13, 1990 1am

The place they had taken her was much brighter than it looked from outside.

She wandered along peering this way and that taking in the strangeness of the place. It smelled like a swimming pool, the air had a similar kind of feel. Hot and clean but with the undertone of something else that made her think of the time she had licked a penny. It was still night outside but she had the feeling it was very very late. They had been here for a while and she had napped on the bench beside Granny while they waited.

But now Granny had fallen asleep and Grandfather seemed to have wandered off to yell at the man in the White coat. That was the trouble with being four years old. No one told you anything assuming you couldn't tell when something was amiss. Adults were so stupid sometimes. Of course having no frame of reference for both this place and what was going on only increased the desire to find out. Sure that Granny was not likely to miss her any time soon she had gotten off the bench, an arduous task at that, and walked to the end of the corridor.

A glance back and then around the corner had revealed...nothing. So she had walked up this corridor to the next corner, and then the next and then again and assumed she would end up back where she had started with Granny still sound asleep. There was no Granny in this corridor and no benches either instead a set of double doors and buttons. An elevator! As if by magic the doors opened and a man with another white coat on exited reading a clipboard. He didn't look up at her. The elevator stood open beckoning her. She bit her lip in indecisiveness but jumped forward and in as the doors pinged and began to close. She waited staring at the buttons then with a small shrug pressed the ones she could reach. Five orbs of light blinked into existence under her hand and off they went.

The first time the door opened there were people and noise and she shrank back from it unsure why, one light went out. The second time the corridor was dark and spooky looking and she waited wide eyed for the door to close again taking with it the second light. The third time the corridor looked very similar to the one she had left but with a desk and a funny looking bed on wheels against one wall instead of a bench. A coke machine stood humming nearby. She walked to it fascinated by the sound and the elevator closed behind her.

For some time she stood in the relative calming combination of hum and light from the vending machine tracing the words on the front with her small fingers. She paused hearing a rattling sort of sound and stepping away from the machine walked a few steps back towards the big empty desk, her head cocked towards the sound which appeared to be coming from the far end of the corridor. So focused on the noise trying to figure out what it was she didn't notice the doors behind her burst open nor the call of the man who was kneeling on another bed on wheels until they were almost on top of her at which point she stood frozen and exposed mid corridor with nothing to do but stare wide eyed at the commotion.

"LOOK OUT!" the man yelled again without really looking at her. A squeak and heavy footsteps sounded to her right and then her sense of equilibrium tilted as rough hands grabbed her and yanked her back. She struggled once the went limp. Inside she screamed outside she was mute her eyes flickering as the trolley hurtled last followed by another, then another and a team of doctors and other people like a train and just as noisy. Exactly over the place she had just stood.

As it faded just as quickly as it had appeared She sucked in a slightly painful breath that caught in her chest. Little heart hammering she swallowed unsure if she was ok or not, if she should cry or not it was all very confusing. As she reasoned it out something niggled interrupting.

"Hey...hey!" A voice behind her said loudly and turned her on the spot to face a pair of legs clad in dark blue trousers, the material almost black.

Her head tilted up and up seeking some form of recognition. The man, because it was a man, wore a dark shirt and jacket over his trousers. She stared at him in silent awe. He was huge. Her dark brown eyes widened watching him cautiously like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"Don't they teach you the rules of the road in kindergarten these days Kid?" he asked her.

She continued to stare up at him, her mouth open in a little 'o' shape. He was a stranger, she didn't know him but she wasn't sure what else to do. She tilted her head slightly to one side and considered him. Would he chase her is she was to walk away? Who was he and what did he do here….he did not have a white coat or one of the other things the grownups here wore around his neck.

She frowned at him and tilted her head further then stepped back slightly as if trying to take in his entire stature from her small height. Her step wobbled uncertainty forcing her to look away from him and frown at the floor.

The man bent down to her height capturing her attention again; he had the bluest of blue eyes she had ever seen. They seemed to be made of ice; they bored into her as the brow above her frowned. He clicked his fingers in front of her loudly "Hey kid…are you listening?"

She frowned slightly and watched him, swallowing once or twice but unspeaking. Who was this man? Was he supposed to be here…He certainly looked like a normal grown up...would he take her back to Granny?

"Anyone lost a kid!?" The man yelled looking up and down the deserted corridor. "Hey this kid belong to anyone?"

She wasn't expecting the loud noise and jumped, clutching her hands together and rubbing them in fright. No one responded causing the man to frown and shout again "Kid for sale, female….bout 3 to 5 years old…free or best offer."

The shock of the trolleys ebbed as she registered what he was saying and despite herself she found a reply forming to his yells.

"I'm four stupid!" She clarified indignantly surprising herself how loudly her voice sounded in the empty hallway. "And you're not apposed to sell people that don't belong to you that's bad."

The man tilted his head slightly as if considering her the same way she had been considering him and yelled over her head again, "Four year old kid for sale slight attitude problem will require correction."

" I'm not a kid." She said at him scowling her cheeks flushing.

House sighed slightly then yelled again. "Four year old human for sale you know the rest."

The girl jumped again as he raised his voice. "Stop that!" she declared at him. "What are you anyway?"

"I'm the guy that sells stray children to the highest bidder." He said looking down.

She looked confused for a moment. "You can't have bidders if you say something is free…" she said as if thinking out loud. " And it's illegal to sell children"

He smiled at her "It's only illegal if you get caught." His smile spread, wide and wicked looking. "Ohhhh chiiiillllldddrreeen" he said his voice reaching a higher pitch.

She backed away from the man, strangers were bad…she remembered that now. She didn't dare take her eyes off of him, still facing him she ran backwards, clumsily. Her sneakers caught under her and she tripped, landing hard on the vinyl covered floor with a small oooft as the air left her lungs. A Tight horrible feeling spread across her chest and into her throat making tears spring up as she struggled for a second to get air either in or out. A weird wheezing sound came from her and she wanted it to stop.

"Ow..." she finally said when the air eventually entered and the tight feeling loosened. "Ow..."

"Noooo." The voice of the man said. "You're supposed to run away till you are totally away from the scary bad guy not trip over your own shoes and wind yourself. What kind of heroine are you?"

She didn't move just continued looking at the ceiling waiting for the feeling to totally go away or for the bad man to catch her. He was going to sell her and she'd have to live on a farm and chop wood like Cinderella.

The thump of his footsteps caused a feeling of panic to rise up and she quickly tried to sit up and scramble away from him casting around to see where he actually was. The tight feeling returned as she panicked and struggled to fill her small lungs.

"You don't want to sell me." She gasped out wheezily from the floor. "I'm a lie-billy." She sobbed, was that the right word Daddy used? "It's... not good business." She added for emphasis then coughed.

"Wow, she's intelligent." The man said coming closer. "That changes everything guess we won't be giving you away for free after all."

She backed away on her bum and hands as far as she could get and then stopped short as a wall or something pressed back behind her, she was trapped.

She swallowed and winced as her winded lungs had to stop bringing in air for that split second then said with only a slight wobble. "No! My Granny will look for me and my Daddy! And...and my Grandfather's a really important lawyer and my Daddy too and my Mommy... has... a big stick..." She was lying about that last part Mommy did not like big sticks; she said problems could be solved with words not sticks. Part of her wondered what Mommy would say to this dark clad scary man with the blue eyes if she was here now. She gasped and started to cough again as she tried to get back to her feet using what she could now see was the big desk as support.

"Oh no!" the man said not sounding like he really meant it, "Whatever will I do about some random kids mommy with a big stick." He was almost on top of her, looking down at her attempt to escape. He extended his hands towards her, and the colour drained from her face. She felt faint.

Her heart felt like it was going to explode, she turned her head away and clenched her eyes shut taking as deep a breath as she could she started to build up a scream….there wasn't enough air! It hurt too much, she gasped out the first attempt and tried again as the man's hands closed around her waist.

She felt herself pulled upwards…he was going to tie her up and put her in a sack then a cage then a van and drive her away! Her imagination spun wildly increasing the dizzy faint feeling. This was the end she wouldn't see Mommy or Daddy or her toys again. He was going to take her far away, he was going to sell her, he was going to….stand her on her feet and brush off her jeans?

She opened one eye to look at him, on one knee now on the floor dusting her off with one hand while the other had a gentle hold of her arm.

" Here's a life lesson Kid, contrary to what your fairy tales tell you bad guys don't stand around and rant about their plans before they do it. They just do it. They certainly don't yell them in busy Emergency department corridors. Even half deserted ones. Understand?"

She stared at him as her heart beat in her ears and some small part of her realised he was not going to hurt her. The relief washed through her and the little colour she had along with her sense of fight drained away so suddenly her little knees trembled then buckled.

The man caught her easily.

"Whoa easy there." His tone changed and his expression softened. He peered at her face again with those icy blue eyes. "I didn't really mean to scare you." he glanced around as if looking for something, his hand on her back now.

She recoiled from his touch and he frowned back down at her. "Are you hurt kid? Can you tell me where you are hurt?"

She stared at him trying to remember how to speak. This seemed to decide something in him.

"Ok, hang on, up you come." he swept her up into his arms and stood. He was going to take her after all; he was just trying to make her look tidy! Her heart started to pound again and she struggled against him.

"Nooooo!" she gasped at him then stopped short as just after the word left her lips she felt a soft, cool leathery texture rise up to meet her. He had put her down on one of the wheeled beds along the wall.

"That's better, thought you had gone mute on me there kid." He said as he released his hold on her. " Ok life lesson number two….while it is true that bad guys lie they don't always lie." The man said.

She stared at him her eyes wide again then tried to dash to the side of the bed. She didn't get far, the dizzy feeling had made her movements slow and clumsy.

"And not all people that pretend to be bad guys are actually bad guys." The man continued as he caught her again and put her back into the sitting position in front of him. Her back to the wall. He was smiling at her clearly amused.

She scrambled again and he caught her by the wrist this time. Small limbs flailing "Careful now. Look calm down its ok. I'm not going to hurt you…" he considered a moment. "Or sell you."

She stopped struggling and looked at him; the deep blue of his eyes seemed warm now, but still as sharp. "You're not?" she asked. "What are you going to do?"

"First I'm going to ask you where you came from, because that's the responsible thing to do." He said helping her back to a sitting position but not letting go. His grip did lessen slightly.

"Second, I'm going to ask you to sit still for me while I check just on the off chance you actually are hurt and those lawyers you mentioned decide to sue me. Third I'm going to help you get back where you came from,"

She looked at him a thousand questions racing through her head and seemed confused for a second then finally settled on one. "Why?" she asked.

If this wasn't what he expected her to say he didn't show it. "Because this isn't a safe place for kids to be running about and also lawyers are scary and lawsuits are bad." He stopped to consider a moment then added. "Or is it the other way round I can never remember. But trust me my girlfriend is one so I know what I'm talking about."

She settled on her next comment quickly. "I'm not hurt." She asserted.

He nodded, agreeing with her. " Yeah kids basically bounce these days. But as the adult here I'm going to do it anyway. And before you ask me why let's say you had a bit of a fright and a fall so I'm going to check anyway. You don't have to be afraid I'm a doctor so it's ok."

She frowned more "What are you going to check?"

"You." The man said carefully, "I'm going to have a quick look at you."

The words triggered something.'Let's have a look at you' she repeated the phrase. " So Like Mommy and Granny do when I fall outside?" she asked brightening slightly.

"Yeah." He agreed readily. "Something like that. Do you fall outside a lot?" He was peering closely at her now.

She shrugged captivated by his gaze. A few seconds passed. The intensity of his eyes was too much. She broke eye contact and looked off towards the side of his head pondering. The man craned his neck trying to peer into her eyes again then gently took her chin and straightened her head to face him.

"Look at me." He said quietly and frowned slightly, cupping the sides of her head in each hand he tilted her ever so slightly left then right, up then down to get a view of her pupils reacting to the light.

She blinked and frowned. "What are you doing?" she asked intrigued, he was odd. Doing odd things but she wasn't as scared of him now. He wasn't scary really just weird.

With his thumbs the man pushed down the bottoms of her eyelids, then rolled the tops slightly before releasing her.

She blinked a couple of times then watched him raise a finger. He touched the tip of the finger very deliberately. "Now look here." He said and when she did, he placed the same finger on the opposite hand on her chin keeping her head still. "Follow my finger." He said.

Her eyes tracked the motion of the tip of his finger all the way across until her head hurt then back again to the other side. After a second or two of this, she took her eyes off it for a moment to watch him.

"Ah-ah-ah..." he said bringing the finger back to the centre. "Noo…look here." He wiggled the digit at her then started again.

With a small frown, wondering why, she did as he asked watching its progress up and down and side to side again. When he released her, she drew breath to question him but stopped as he interrupted.

His hand brushed her hair back from her neck and pressed just under her ear. "So, where'd you come from kid?" he asked shaking back the sleeve of his shirt to look at his watch.

"New jersey." She said watching him with interest he didn't look up from the watch. "My Mommy was born in new York though we go there Christmas shopping sometimes."

The man removed the fingers "heart rate's good..." he said quietly to himself and placed his hand over her forehead that caused another frown from him. " I meant how you ended up here."

She shrugged his hand away. " My Mommy and Daddy had sex." She said matter of factly at the same time he muttered.

"A little warm but low grade at best...maybe an overactive mother brought her in..." He stopped and stared at her. "What did you just say?" he asked.

She took a small breath, "When a mommy and daddy want to have a baby the Mommy grows an egg inside her, the daddy grows a special seed. They have sex and the Daddy gives the Mommy his seed that she feeds into her egg and it grows into a baby." She sounded exasperated as if she was sick of explaining this.

The man watched her quietly a moment then. " Did your Mommy bring you here?"

"No. She's at a party with my Daddy."

"Babysitter? Would explain the freak out."

"No. Lorri has exams at school so she couldn't come. My Granny is looking after me."

"Did your Granny bring you?" He was bending her wrists and fingers gently watching her.

"Yes. But she was asleep. Grandfather was talking to the man in the white coat,"

"Another Doctor?"

The girl shrugged and put her hands around her throat as if by habitant lean on her elbows. He watched her again a second. "...is your Granny sick?" She shook her head. " Are you sick?" Again she shrugged with her hands still around her neck as if she didn't think so.

He gently pulled her hands away and pushed his fingers in under her chin. She flinched away from him and resisted the urge to giggle.

The man seemed to mistake her reaction. "Did that hurt?" he asked. He pulled her back towards him and tried again pushing deeper, he followed the line of her jaw on each side. This time she couldn't stop the giggle.

" No it tickles."

He rolled his eyes at her response but kept pressing all the same until he was satisfied. His fingertips pressed into the back of her head and down her neck into her shoulders.

"You said you were Four?" He asked as he felt along her shoulders and into her back. "What kind of four year old calls their Grandfather Grandfather."

"I'm five in the summer. I'm getting a cake." She said as if this explained it.

He smirked slightly. "You know you are remarkably articulate for a four year old."

She blinked at him, she didn't know that word was it a bad thing? Did it mean she was short or smelled or something?

Her lack of response didn't seem to phase him. His fingers pressed into her ribs and she sucked a breath. "Ow..." causing him to pause in his probing and focus more attention on the area.

"Did that hurt?" He asked as again he gently pressed her back and along her ribs. He felt her stiffen again. "Ow..."she said and her eyes welled with tears,

"No no..." he said hastily. " It's ok...don't cry." He turned her slightly and pulling the child's green sweater up inspected the area. There was no lacerations or marks but the spot was tender. Bruised most likely he decided and released the grasp he had on the child.

" It's ok it's bruised from where you fell." He explained then Sighed slightly as a thought crossed his mind. He rummaged in his inside jacket pocket and pulled a tangle of metal and tubing out which seemed to scare the girl.

She watched this New thing with trepidation and looked at him for reassurance.

"It's called a stethoscope." The man said untangling it and putting part of it around his neck. White bits sitting on each side. " You've never seen a stethoscope ?"

She recognised it then from the man Grandfather had spoken to and the others draped across the white coats. She nodded and his frown relaxed slightly. He pulled it into his ears and rubbed a round part on it in his hand before gently leaning her forwards and placing the round part over the side of her bruise.

"Deep breath," he said automatically.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? So I can hear your lungs. Duh"

"Why do you want to hear my lungs?"

He paused. She couldn't see his face above her only the underside of his chin and the tubing of the stethoscope.

"This is exactly why I'm not a pediatrician." He muttered more to herself than anything. To her he said. "You ask a lot of questions for a four year old. I just do. Now be a good kid and take a nice deep breath like you are going to blow out birthday candles. In and out again..."

Shaking her head at the odd man she did as he asked. In and out again.

"...Good girl. And again." He moved the stethoscope slightly. Paused a few seconds then did the other side. He paused again and closed his eyes as he listened but whatever he thought he heard wasn't there a second time. To be safe he moved back to the first side and repeated the process before stepping back and unhooking the device from his ears. He stuffed it back in his pocket and pulled her sweater back down.

"Sounds good. You can stop breathing like that now."

The girl took a few experimental normal breaths and continued to watch him. She seemed calmer and her pallor was much better. " Well it looks like you are a bit bruised but no sign of concussion or any real injuries."

"I'm not hurt?"

"No. Unless you can show me anything else that hurts?" He waited almost expectantly but the girl shook her head.

"Good, then since your neither hurt nor sick we will get a nurse to take you back to where you belong and watch where you're going next time Kid." He very gently picked her up and placed her back on her feet on the ground then gave her a slight shove.

"Sorry." She mumbled embarrassed. Another flush of colour bit her cheeks and she looked up finding him frowning at her again as if there was something he couldn't put his finger on.

" Don't be sorry, be careful. It's not like I'm going to be around to save you next time. Remember that your gonna have go learn to save yourself. There not always going to be someone to grab you if you get yourself run over by a lot of gurneys."

She frowned at him then looked at her shoes. He ran a hand over his hair and the slight five o'clock shadow across his face. "Geez.." he began and looking down at her opened his mouth then looked behind him as further up the corridor alarm noises sounded, someone yelled and another commotion started.

"Stay there." He said then hurriedly raced off towards the noise, yelling for things that she could not understand as he went.

She waited holding onto the metal of the Bed on wheels but he did not come back. Totally forgotten about it seemed she walked quickly away towards a quieter corridor, rubbing at her bruises. This place wasn't nice she wanted to find Granny and go home. Mommy and Daddy would be back home by now and they would be wondering where she was.

October 13th – 1990 – 2am

Getting back to Granny was proving to be much more difficult than she had thought it would be. The corridors here were all the same and the people seemed much too busy and shouty to help her. Besides, she wasn't supposed to speak to strangers and she already had. She bit her lip and chewed slightly wondering if the man would tell on her and get her into trouble. He had said it was ok because he was a doctor but Did that mean the stranger rule didn't apply to him? He was a strange doctor after all. He had also said stay there but there were too many people and she didn't belong. Besides that was a while ago now and his eyes scared her slightly when she thought back on it.

She turned another corner and froze as a familiar smell hit her, Tobacco and aftershave. She spun towards it expecting to see Grandfather and his pipe ready to tell her off for wandering away but she could not see him anywhere. She felt scared, lonely and ground her teeth together, her little fists clenched to stop the water that nipped her eyes from falling.

She sobbed slightly and then stopped as a feeble bleep bleeping noise made her pivot on the spot and stare into the dim greyness of the private room behind her. Slowly she turned, unknowing what she would see and if grandfather would be there hiding in that large, curtained area. The bleep bleeping was coming from the shape on the bed. The smell of the place was getting stronger and the smell of Grandfather fading. A combination of cleaning things and a salty unwashed smell and the taste of pennies on a wafting air that came from the vent in the roof not the windows, properly shut and soaked with rain as if they were crying the tears she had stopped herself spilling

She pushed the curtain aside and found…

…Not grandfather, a person with bruises, and red stuff leaking out of them. A hot burning feeling leapt from her belly to her throat, she turned away quickly then stopped.

Something felt wrong here. Looking back she took a step forwards, towards the bed, her heart hammering with each step almost in time to the bleeping sound that seemed to echo around her. Swallowing she drew level with the bed and looked up at the woman there. Her face was unrecognisable, crossed with lines, wires coming from her as if she was covered in Christmas lights. Yet even watching her the girl felt something stir within her.

"Mommy?" she asked the bleeding, injured creature before her. The water welled again as a strong sense of truth settled over the girl the halo of light around the woman throwing shadows out from her to the edges of the room.

"Mommy?!" the girl said again, water pouring down her face. She held a shaking hand out tentatively to the woman's hand some older part of her brain saying that she could do nothing more, and looked around for an adult. Look for the giant man with the stethoscope thing and the blue icy eyes, for the shouty man in the white coat for Grandfather for Daddy for someone….nothing but the gloom that seemed to press closer and closer arrived to help and for the first time in her life, she was afraid of the dark.

13th October 1990 – 2 am

The grandfather chewed his unlit pipe more for something to do than the actual smoking of it. A nurse, small, red headed girl with a crest in her white tunic that said "Princeton General Hospital" chided him.

"Excuse me sir, you can't smoke that here…this is the SICU sir…"

He chomped down on it without looking at her. "I am aware of where I am and what I may and may not do thank you."

She opened her mouth, to argue with him no doubt, at the same moment the door to the room he had been watching opened and an older man in a lab coat with grey hair walked out. He made a beeline for them both.

With a passing thought that the doctor looked tired and drawn, the Grandfather was forced to walk forwards.

"Jonas." He said in recognition.

The doctor nodded at the nurse who graciously had the sense to leave for now. "Fredric…..I am so sorry for your loss..."

Fredric waved his hand dismissively. He couldn't think of it now….couldn't deal with it in public. Not yet. "Thank you Jonas, I appreciate your kind words. Both Elizabeth and I do. My daughter in law? How is she?"

The doctor seemed to resign himself. He squared his shoulders. "I'm not going to lie to you Fredric she's in a bad way. The surgery went as well as could be expected but there is still internal injuries and the MRI showed bleeding in her brain. We are watching it and we'd like to operate again to both release the pressure if necessary and explore the area."

Fredric gestured with his pipe. "So do it...what are you waiting for…."

"Like i said we need to wait to see if the bleeding continues. Even still Her recovery will be difficult Fredric… surgery after surgery…and no way of telling how much damage has been done. "

"If it's a matter of money Jonas you know..."

"It's not Fredric…I'm not very clear. I know tonight has been a terrible shock but realistically at this stage I'm not even sure if she will wake up. I'm sorry."

Fredric chewed his pipe a moment. "The person on the phone had me bring my Granddaughter…something about a transfusion?"

"No she is too young and it won't be necessary. We used blood from our supplies"

"So what are you telling me to consider organ donation? Therapy? What?"

"Many of her organs were badly damaged…"

He cut the doctor off "But this bleeding may come to nothing. The internal injuries are the major issue so this surgery is her best option?"

Slowly, reluctantly the grey haired doctor nodded. "Yes…but..."

"Then operate dammit…prep whatever you need to do. "

"We can't at the moment Fredric…there are other complications…Her kidneys are not damaged but are shutting down and we aren't sure exactly why…she wouldn't survive a trip to the OR at the moment…she barely came out the first time. "

Fredric listened, listened as the man painted a picture in half speak half medical jargon of his daughter in law, her chances of survival and his idea to consult some other guy, a genius apparently. By the end, he was sure of only two things. Firstly If these people did not know what they were doing, His sons wife, his granddaughters mother would die and secondly that these people were lost in a dark room with a blindfold on. He sighed.

"So what do we do? This specialist fellow…what's he do?"

"Doctor House has been here the past six months he's helped to set up a diagnostics department here, he is also a kidney specialist. He's very good Fredric….he takes on the impossible cases and his results are high."

"So she's an impossible case is she?" Fredric said softly causing the other man to pale and hurriedly try to retract his statement. He waved him off again. "How long until this House Fellow gets here?"

Jonas paled again. "I've had him paged and had the case notes sent to him so he will be aware of what's happening…his current patient is in a critical state in emergency care which is why he hasn't been up to Examine her yet…he will be though very soon…."

The man cut off as down the corridor a woman's startled cry distracted them both. Fredric turned hearing his wife and hurried back up the corridor towards her. Just up from a T-junction where he had left her on some leather sofas she stood looking wild-eyed and pale.

"She's gone Fredric! I drifted off for only a second...and she's gone she was just here and she's not in the bathroom…oh my god…oh oh."

As he clutched her to him, sobbing Jonas picked a phone handset up from the nearby wall.

"This is the SICU we have a missing child. Repeat a missing child aged four, three foot two, brown hair wearing blue jeans and a green sweater with sneakers."

13th October 1990- 3am

Mommy did not move, just rasped in deep breaths that sounded like she was gurgling water. The girl didn't know how long she stood holding Mommy's hand but it wasn't warm like normal and after a while she brought it up to rub along her own face and dry the tears the way Mommy used to. The way she did, she always would.

She curled up on the floor in the circle of light still holding Mommy's hand staring at the dim that creeped closer and closer towards her and the chill that creeped out from them both almost to meet it.

Something was very very wrong here. Something not right, Mommy wasn't waking up, Daddy wasn't here, and things were just wrong.

The bleeping got louder longer, as if it was scared too then suddenly mommy made a funny rattling sound and the bleeping turned into a scream. A high-pitched sound that lasted on, on, and on echoing into the nothingness and back to her from every direction. She leapt up and away, away from the sound and the red stuff pouring out from Mommy's mouth and her ears. She watched it drip out of the tube in her hand along her fingertips and onto the floor.

Scared she ran to the corner of the room behind the big curtain and sat down her hands pressed over her ears and her eyes squeezed shut.

People were running and shouting. The lights came on just as she opened her eyes blinding her. Hurting her head and making the sore red skin under her eyes sting as salty tears poured out again. She shook her head as if to clear it and tried again, everything was a blur of motion and noise that made her feel like her senses were all going to explode at once. There was so much noise, people with machines on metal things with wheels, there were so many people, strangers' men and women in white coats and some not. In the doorway the dark clothed man with the icy blue eyes stood observing passively at the commotion. Maybe that was his job to go watch when there was a lot of noise and tell someone else what happened some part of her reasoned that was quickly ignored.

Someone swore a bad word and then the bleeping made an alarm like a fire drill, red stuff that smelled of pennies was all over their hands, all over Mommy all over the floor someone's shoe print in the small puddle by Mommy's fingers…blood.

The ear-piercing sound went on and on, she felt it inside her building like tight bands pressing into her chest, her throat and finally unable to contain it she let it out. The scream mixed with the blaring of alarms in a sort of morbid harmony.

More footsteps and Hands then, urgent but not rough turned her and lifted her from the floor. Something soft held her close, tight and turned her face away from the sight. The sound of the curtain being pulled, a little metal on metal rasp startled her and she jumped. The person held her head gently from behind holding it into their chest, just under the shoulder another arm under her legs helped keep her aloft. She could not see who it was; it was not Daddy or Grandfather... it smelled of something different she had never smelt before it reminded her of spices at Christmas time. Of apple pie.

"Shhhhh…." A deep reverberating sound from under her ear soothed and despite her fear a deep feeling of calm settled on her. After some time her voice broke and she stopped screaming aloud, the noise refused to leave however and it took a moment to realise that it was inside her. Then, noiseless.

"Time of death….3.30am" a deflated voice said followed by a wall of utter Silence a stillness that was not comfort but ached with both pain and loss.

The comforting smell of spice moved then an gently put her down, having to pull her small clenched fists from its clothes. She blinked her eyes making out only fuzzy images through tears that were half adjustment to light half she did not understand.

The dark fuzzy figure walked away leaving her standing behind the curtain rubbing her eyes and too scared to move though she was not sure really, why or where she was for that matter. She could remember smelling Grandfather but after that…..blank.

"You came too late" a voice said

"I came when I could…I had another patient."

" I paged you an hour ago."

" I had a pediatric case then my original case coded. I made the choice we all have to make."

"Yeah?" the voice demanded. "Well was it worth it?"

The voice responded sounding empty of all emotion. "My patient is 14...because I was there during the seizure I was able to work out the underlying cause...he's going to live. You tell me."

An angry sort of breathing sound followed before the voice interrupted sounding further away.

"By the way there's a kid behind that curtain….she's bruised and in shock."

The curtain noise then and voices and finally the overwhelming smell of Grandfather pressing her close to him.

"Shhhh…" he rumbled. " Shhh…shhh it's ok everything's going to be ok."

Granny's hands stroked along her hair, " Oh oh petal shhh its ok it's ok. How did she even get in here...do you think she...oh no she didn't see..."

"I don't know."

She wasn't really aware of the sobbing, or of their words. The man in the white coat seemed to be having an argument with Grandfather that made him clutch her closer to him.

"Don't you think you've done enough Jonas…you think I'm going to let you poke and prod my granddaughter after what she just saw…"

"She's in shock Fredric….let me give her something to help."

Grandfather didn't answer him instead he reaffirmed his grip on the girl in his arms and walked away. Walked away from it all carrying her along with him and ignoring his wife and the person he once would have counted as a friend.

The girl pulled her face up from his shoulder and watched the man in dark clothes with the icy blue eyes stare at her. Looking as if he wanted to say something but instead he turned, shaking his head sadly and walked away. She watched his shadow grow longer on the floor a thin tall figure it cast. Holding a scythe.


	2. - Asthma Attacks are so last season.

Chapter one - Asthma Attacks are so last season.

Summer, the time of year when all things change animals move with the seasons and come home to roost, the slowly ebbing grasp of winter is finally forced back into its proper season, spring colours are abandoned and no one goes aww over little chicks at Easter. School terms finish and groups of kids, teenagers and the general unemployed flock around with the need for something to do.

Many of the teen variety sleep which is no surprise to any parents out there. In addition, on this particular Wednesday it just so happened that temperatures had reached a record high. It was early but already people were sweating in the sheer heat of the day or desperately seeking something or somewhere cool to go.

Arin Rae, 16 (and 11 months, two days) lay under a thin blanket, the shorts and vest pyjama ensemble she had worn stuck to her in places that frankly would be unattractive to describe. The air conditioning blew cold air into her bedroom winning its never-ending contest with the open window that only let in the chirping of birds not a single breeze of air.

Her dark brown hair fanned in a messy array, stuck to her forehead and did nothing to shield her ears from the second onslaught of irritating noise. The chirpy annoying tune rang loudly again causing her to screw up her eyes as the phone vibrated along the wooden bedside table. It buzzed like an angry hoard of wasps, cut off then started again.

Reaching blindly she swatted it and then rolled over. Quiet, serene she sighed in comfort despite the heat and settled into a cooler nook of cotton when.

Bbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!...Bbbbbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

Apparently, it was not going to go away. She rolled over again and without opening, her eyes clenched the phone to her ear. "What." She demanded of the person on the other end.

The voice laughed at her. "Robyn says she's been calling you for over an hour. Did you forget project buy everything in the mall?"

Arin sighed and sitting up looked at the clock beside her bed. It was gone of course having been thrown or knocked off during the struggle with the phone. Clambering over the side, phone tucked under her chin she dived looking for it.  
"No I didn't forget….I just chose to ignore the incessant clamouring for my attention at…7am!" she held the clock as if it were personally offensive and scowled. "Jesus Zen it's practically still night time! Why on earth does she want to go to the mall this early it's not half open yet…"

On the other end of the phone Zenneth McLeod, 17, raised one blond eyebrow his girlfriend could not see and laughed again, sending his longish wavy hair into disarray.

"She said she needed the time to get ready, so I'm coming to get you then we're going to her place so she can have you help her pull her wardrobe together. Be ready in 20?"

Arin felt her face light up as she smiled. "Your stepmom's letting you have the car?"

"Borrow..."Zen said loudly in a way that made Arin think his stepmom could hear them. " She's letting me BORROW the car for today"

She laughed. "Ok. Fine but give me 30 I still need to shower and eat first."

"Oooh….something I get to see?" he whispered in a playful tone.

"No lover boy something you get to wonder about. 30 mins, I'll meet you at the bottom of the drive."

"Ohhh…ok fine, see you soon." He said hanging up.

Arin flopped back into her pillow and stared at the ceiling trying to remember what she had been dreaming about. Something about a tall shadow with a scythe. She really needed to stop reading discworld novels before bed. She shuddered and after a few seconds, sighed and began disentangling herself from the sheets.

—  
The entire room was pink. Arin had sat in this bedroom a thousand thousand times but each time it struck her just how Pink it actually was. Shades of the same colour were on everything from the baby pink plush carpet to the rose pink silk wallpaper. Even the four poster bed frame and curtains were pink. Tho a shade so pale that to the untrained eye they would pass as off white. As the second skirt and top ensemble flew into her face Arin scowled and then ducked the pair of kitten heels that followed practically having to flatten herself into the pink comforter on the round double bed.

"What was wrong with that one!"she demanded honestly perplexed.

The girl before her flicked her raven coloured hair back in annoyance as if the question caused physical injury. The dark eyes and slight oriental features of Robyn Adamson were perfectly made up and took in her friend with what could only be described as scorn.

"Ugh it's so last season. I don't even know why I bought it." She rummaged in the double doored walk in closet and swore to herself as Arin lifted the skirt to look at it. The tag was still on it.

"Didn't you buy this last weekend?"

Robyn's voice sighed dramatically. " Yeah and it was fine then but not now...obviously."

Arin frowned and shook her head. She didn't get it.

"Which reminds me...you remember those super cute denim shorts and the blouse ensemble I bought last weekend?"

"With the stupid sandals?"

"If by stupid you mean the limited edition gladiator strap sandals in chocolate leather then yes."

Arins expression took on a healthy dose of suspicion. She stared into the dark recess of the wardrobe. "Yes..." she said carefully.

Robyn reappeared dressed in a red tartan skirt the would have made the word mini embarrassed and a black cashmere sweater vest that Arin was sure that would induce heat stroke within seconds. In her hands she held a set of hangers with the shortest pair of denim shorts and a white sheer shirt Arin remembered being called a peasant blouse. The sandals dangled from her other hand.

"No." she stated. A small laugh of disbelief escaping her as though she wasn't convinced her friend was serious. "Robyn no...absolutely not."

Robyn pouted, her expertly glossed and coloured lips quivering. " Please Arin...my Nai Nai like totally went crazy when my credit card bill came on Monday. The only reason I'm not like grounded for the rest of the summer was because i told her it was totally a gift for you and i was going to surprise you with it, i mean come on... you totally owe me."  
Arin scowled " i owe you? For what?" She watched as her friend rolled her eyes as if the whole thing was obvious.

" i totally stuck up for you with Olivia and Vanessa...you know what the rumour mill is like. They put weight on over the winter break and you didn't so obviously that means you have a sort of...shall we say problem."she watched the colour drain from her friends face with a sort of satisfaction. Sucking in air and lost for words, not so clever now was she.

Arin felt fury rip up through her. Those rumours were old, old and dead as far as she knew. The idea of it had made her life hell with whispers and trips to the schools guidance counsellor and scrutiny from her teachers. All in all a living nightmare for someone that doesn't want the attention and also is not even remotely true. " I'm not..."

Robyn shrugged still holding the clothes. " That's what i told them. But the way you eat...it is a little hard to believe, like obviously I believe you because I'm your best friend I'm totally on your side. So please...wear it for me and then i can tell the old fruit bat that you didn't like it on and since i didn't have a gift receipt you decided to let me keep it." She flicked her hair and checked her makeup in the full length mirror by the door. " besides it looks better on me anyway..." she added in a mutter.

Arin sighed deeply. Why did it always have to go like this. She glanced down at her own attire. Long baggy jean shorts, black band vest and red converse all stars. She was comfortable...she was herself. She was...doomed. Her head fell chin to chest in defeat. The motion caused Robyn to laugh with a kind of wicked delight and clap her hands.

" Oh thank you! Thank you thank you. Oh my god you are like the bestest of best friends in the whole wide world...i totally owe you one. Besides you are going to love it you'll look amazing we will fix your hair and your face and Zen is going to flip when he sees you." She stopped wide eyed. " ohmahgod!" She breathed the words together. " I totally forgot about him!"

She pushed the clothes into Arins arms. " get changed i'll go see that my mother and grandmother haven't like adopted him or something!" With that she rushed from her room leaving Arin to pull a face at the hated sandals.

Looking down at her comfortable shoes and back to the mass of straps her head shook. How did she end up in these situations. Not for the first time did part of her consider that her so called best friend literally used her for her own means time and time again and she knowing full well simply went along with it. That part of her growled in fury but was quashed by the tired sigh of status quo.

About thirty minutes later as the trio walked the short length of driveway to Zen's waiting car her face already feeling like it was going to melt with the layers of makeup Robyn had slathered over her skin Arin considered if the status quo was worth it in the end. It was a thought that had been creeping into her head for some time now. She cast a sideways look across Zen towards Robyn to find the other girl glaring at her, more specifically at her feet. Looking down Arin turned her ankle to look at the source of the annoyance. "what?" She asked.

Robyn flicked her hair again, " Ugh i cannot believe you wore those ratty old things instead of the sandals. It's throwing off the whole look."

Arin smiled as she got into the front passenger seat and as Zen held the driver seat forward for Robyn to climb in the back she glanced again at the red canvas shoes, well she wasn't ready to be a total doormat.

—

On the other side of town, sat the prestigious looking building that housed Princeton Plainsboro teaching hospital where, like the rest of new jersey, the heat was doing nothing,on this hottest day of the summer so far, to lighten the mood.

The staff at the reception of the clinic fanned themselves briefly with each new file passed to them, sweat running down the faces of all those in the waiting room. The free walk-in clinic was by far the busiest that it had been this summer with sixty to seventy people lined against the walls all claiming sunstroke or some other ailment.

There was the general unspoken agreement between most of them that they would stay there in the air-conditioned room for as long as possible, on the grounds that the rather irate doctor who had emerged only once or twice so far that day was not assigned to them.

Across the hall from the edgy looking people exam room two sat quietly and innocently, as a minute war against idiocy was waged within.

"And...Ahh you see…my hands, I cannot work like this and the family who hire me. Well they won't pay my time off without knowing what it is and i can't get it to go away. It just sprung up." A small, balding Hispanic man sat on the exam table the sleeves of his shirt rolled up exposing a very red, very nasty looking rash. When his doctor did not reply, he ventured. "My grandson…he thinks it could be something serious like meningitis..."

"Your Grandson..." The doctor replied from his position at the window as he took a small orange bottle from his pocket and popped the lid off. For some reason the heat did not seem to be affecting him. "… Obviously has never been to el college de medico…otherwise he would know that what you have is not meningitis."

He shook a small white pill from the bottle and threw it into his mouth before placing it back into his jeans pocket and turning, leaning heavily on his cane, limped over to the stool in front of the exam table and sat down. "…Thus by proxy making both you and him idiots."

The man frowned and opened his mouth to either argue his case or that of his grandson, however Doctor Gregory House who had remained silent for most of the consultation, and did not suffer fools gladly, now seemed unable to stop speaking.

"You're a Gardner for goodness sake. Ever worked with plants? Clearing weeds?"

When the man continued to look confused and no sudden inspiration dawned on him House pulled his prescription pad towards him sighing dramatically. "What you have is not meningitis. In fact what you have is possibly the most diagnostically boring event of my summer thus far." He signed his name with a flourish and handed over the piece of paper pocketing the pen in his sky blue rumpled shirt. He got to his feet and limped towards the door.

The man's blank gaze following him as he sat clutching his prescription. "Hydrocortisone?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's a rash you put cream on it. It'll go away. You have poison ivy. But thanks for playing. And next time wear some damned garden gloves." House told him with a look that declared the condition as obvious and the consultation at a definite end. He left the room and closed the door behind him.

Limping over to the desk he deposited the Hispanic mans file into the waiting grasp of the receptionist and treated those people in the waiting area to a withering icy glare that chilled many of them much faster than the air con had been doing. The mass population of the waiting room drew a uniformed breath and backed as far into their respective seats and corners as they could.

House inclined his head at them. "You can all breathe easy. My sentence is served. Those of you with real medical conditions will be seen by a doctor shortly, those of you using this clinic as free air conditioning which I'm willing to bet is the majority of you will most likely still be here when I return." He limped off towards the doors."…I'd advise you to consider how badly your freeloading asses actually need to see a doctor today in my absence."

The door swung shut behind him and the entire room of patients released its collective breath. A heartbeat or so passed and as the sounds of House's cane faded away a handful of people detached themselves from the crowd and followed him out of the clinic, walking hastily, their heads lowered and their feet scuffing slightly in their hurry.  
—

"Urgh freeloaders." Arin said with a frown as she lifted the tray of soda and fries out of the way once again and dodged two more people lolling around in the food court. " hello walking here!" She made a beeline to literally the only available seating they had been able to find at the fountain and thumped the tray down in annoyance causing the soda to topple and tip into the outstretched hand of Zen.

"Chill Arin, geez everyone's just trying to find someplace out of the heat." The teen told her as he put his drink down well out of harm's way.

Arin sighed and her expression softened. " i know...sorry. But seriously that line was huge and i think the sodas warm because they are out of ice." She pulled hopelessly at the bottoms of her shorts trying to make them lower by sheer force of will as Zen gave his soda an experimental shake at his ear. Giving up Arin sat down on the wall of the fountain instead of her usual spot on the floor. The denim bit into her thighs and she once again felt a surge of annoyance for letting Robyn shanghai her into wearing the stupid things. She ran a hand over the front of her, basically see through, blouse and looked around. " where is Robyn?"

"Some of the fountain spray got on her bag. Apparently its a Marc Jacobs and can not get wet so she's taking it to the ladies room to dry off the offending droplets."

Arin turned to look at the offending fountain. The fountain was a definite centrepiece that took up basically most of the room on the level that wasn't taken by the food court. It was large made of green marble with three different pools. A deep dark one that they sat beside was the bottom with a large fountain and areas where the other pools cascaded into. On the other side there was a plaque that dignified why it had been built but she couldn't see that from her side. She leaned over, having to press herself across the wide rim and stretch the foot or so down to touch the water. It was icy cold some shining glints of silver and copper told her that despite the signs asking patrons not to people had tossed coins in. She pulled her hand back and sitting up grabbed a handful of Zen's shirt to dry her fingers.

"Hey!" He yelped but didn't look overly angry. He smiled and slid closer to her pulling her into a hug. Arin stuck her tongue out and Zen laughed. "Personally i think it was an excuse."

Arin looked upwards at him as he reached for his drink again. "What was?"

"Robyn. I didn't see any water on her bag. She wanted to go to the bathroom so she could go take her inhaler in private. It's an excuse. You know what she's like, Asthma...so last season."

"Well, she did sound slightly wheezy…" Arin said quietly, more to herself than Zen.

"Hmm?" The boy asked around the handful of fries he had jammed in his mouth. She shook her head and chewed on the straw of her soda." Nothing."

The boy swallowed and looked around. " I guess she did sound kinda wheezy when we sat down." He said slightly pompously. Arin smiled and looked away from him.

"I wonder if it's the thirty or so bags of shopping she was touting." He glanced at the array of bags by his feet. " or maybe the pollen from those?" He pointed overhead at the food court archway.

Large ornamental pots housed some very colourful looking flowers which Arin had assumed were plastic like normal. The presence of a rather irate woman in overalls with an stained orange coloured industrial mop and a cross expression made her look again.

"It's making a real mess." She said conversationally brushing some of it off of the bags and her converse soles. "If this stuff stains anything Robyn has bought she will have a fit."

The din of the mall mingled with the splashing of the fountain for a few moments then changed as if someone had turned down the volume. Conversations stopped by a creeping silence that eventually gave way to complete quiet, people were staring at them. Slowly Arin turned to look over her shoulder in time to see a dark shape fall over the marble wall with a splash into the main body of water.

There was a beat as Arin tried to make sense of what she was seeing, on the other side of the fountain floating face down she saw a girl, her tartan skirt askew.

"Robyn!" Arin yelled as she leapt to her feet. The colour drained from her in shock because there was no mistaking that tartan skirt. A nanosecond had passed. Zen looking panicked was whirling on the spot seemingly trying to work out if he should grab someone. He appealed to the stunned people nearby. " Help! Someone!"

Arin didn't stop to think, she glanced around reasoned the fastest way to her friend was through the water and clambered up onto the marble rim of the fountain, across the seat she had just occupied and in. She slid the drop from rim into the water and landed on her backside, the fountain despite its location and purpose was deceptively deep. Deeper and colder than she would have thought, it came to her chest sitting like that. Quickly she stood, slipping slightly and began wading through the waist high water. At the same time a man in a business suit had done the same from the other had removed his jacket. He reached Robyn first but seemed unable to get her turned. Gripping the girl Arin tried to move her, Raven hair floating eerily in the motion of the water. The majority of it seemed to be caught in some undercurrent and was pulling her further under the water. She wasn't moving.

"Oh my god…" The man yelled as he saw the mass of hair. "Turn off the pump turn off the pump!".

Arin grabbed a fist full of hair and pulled not caring if it all ripped out of Robyn's skull. She couldn't get it all free and the more she pulled the more it seemed to tangle. She scanned the pool desperately. Another man was in with them now trying alongside the first to hold as much of Robyn's head out of the water as they could.

Arin took a breath and turning back pushed her head under trying to get a closer look at what Robyn was caught in. The pump sat amidst tile, so the whole fountain wasn't made of marble some part of her brain noted, and was a mass of green algae and hair. Her fingers slid through the grime. She came up and gasped a breath moving closer towards it before ducking under again. Clawing at it. Her foot slid on something and she pitched forwards catching her head off of the part of the wall where tiled turned to marble. It stung. She came back up wiping the slimy water out of her eyes.

There was a woman there above them in overalls with another man on his knees at a large box Arin hadn't paid much attention to before. The noise of the pump turned off. With a final yank Robyn's hair came free and both men and another woman Arin hadn't seen join in took hold of her shoulders and hoisted her friend out of the water back up to the ledge and onto the floor by the fountain. Arin wading after her.

A cascade of water followed as she pulled herself out with some assistance from the onlookers, converse slipping and squealing slightly as she gained her footing. She looked at her friend, hair a dark mess over pale skin like something from a horror movie. Her lips already a light blue."Oh my god…".

Tightness clenched over Arins heart. She fell to her knees and put her ear over Robyn's face. Nothing.

"She's not breathing…" she muttered. Then louder " She's not breathing! Someone help! Call 911! PLEASE!"

"They have been called. It's ok..they are on their way...paramedics are on their way." Someone soothed. The wet woman was also on her knees starting CPR. Arin watched her terrified and feeling utterly useless. She sat at Robyn's side in the pool of water formed under them both as Zen reappeared with a mall cop.

Arin shivered she didn't feel remotely warm anymore.


	3. A Bird in Trauma is worth two in the waiting room.

Chapter Two - A Bird in Trauma is worth two in the waiting room.

"Look out!" A voice called as the doors to Princeton Plainsboro's ER department swung open.

A paramedic team, pushing a dark haired girl on a gurney rushed through the halls towards a trauma room, one keeping the gurney rolling while the other ventilated the bag attached to the girl's mouth.

"What you got?" a female voice asked as she rushed over to join the gurney team. Alison Cameron took the chart the paramedic offered.

"Robyn Adamson, Sixteen year old female, went for a swim in the malls fountain. Unresponsive at the scene." Paramedic Bob explained. "Pulse thredy, BP 180/90 'resp's shallow, we scooped and ran. Her friends pulled her out, they are right behind us. The female friend said she's an asthmatic, we treated with 10 ccs epinephrine and a bronchodilator in the field… couldn't get a line in…"

Cameron took all of this in as she kept pace with them. She glanced down at the tangled wet mass of the girls hair. The scalp was bleeding slightly under it. "What happened there?" She asked.

"I think her hair was caught in the fountains main pump, that's what pulled her under it looks fairly superficial." The paramedic replied following her gaze.

The gurney rolled to a stop as it reached the trauma room. The waiting medical team moved into action as one nurse fixed the respirator and removed the bag. The rest of the medical team took hold of the body board from under the patient. Cameron took the head.

"All right. On my count." She told them. "One...Two...Three!"

The team hauled as one allowing the board to slide seamlessly on to the waiting gurney, and the paramedic stepped back. Cameron took control of the situation, as the nurse began cutting the wet clothes from the patient; she took a pen light and shone it into her patient's eyes.

"Robyn…can you hear me?" she asked loudly. " Pupils equal and responsive.." The girl remained unconscious the steady rise and fall of her chest aided by the respirator. Cameron looked worriedly at her pale face for a moment before reaching over and rubbing the knuckle of her thumb into Robyn's Solar plexus, the teenager's body contracted under the pressure.

"She's responsive to pain." Cameron called, unable to keep a slight note of relief from her voice. "….Ok get a blood gas, blood count, chem. Panel, electrolytes" She said. "… Start a line…Heated IV fluids"

"Positive batinsky" Someone at the feet called up. A ripping sound of Velcro sounded as an intern removed the collar and gently examined the patient's neck.

"Necks clear"

"Portable chest and neck..." Cameron continued as she plugged her stethoscope into her ears and pressed the diaphragm against the girl's chest.

Outside of the trauma room and back down the hall stood watching the procession. clutching an ambulance blanket around her soaking clothes, hair wet and sticking to her forehead.

She felt rather stunned and wasn't really sure where to go or what to do. She waited for maybe five minutes before a kindly looking nurse spotted her and approached.

"You aren't hurt are you my dear?" She asked causing Arin to blink and slowly look at her.

"Uh...no. No my...my friend, she...there was an accident." She pointed uselessly down the corridor where the trauma team had vanished.

The nurse flicked her tongue and led Arin to the waiting area. She sat across from the girl and began asking questions about Robyn, her name, date of birth her parents number.

Arin answered as much as she could in a sort of numb way. When she was finished she shifted her feet and looked down at the puddle of water she had made in the chair and the floor. She stood. " I am so sorry…" she started.

The nurse clicked her tongue again and smiled reassuringly. "It's ok pet, not your fault. If you're sure you're not hurt…" she waited for Arin to shake her head again and then continued, "... then I will get this information to the desk and get you something dry to change into a hot cup of tea. Just sit tight."

She left then and Arin moved to another more deserted part of the waiting room. That's where she was watching a janitor or something mop up her earlier mess and holding a steaming hot cup of tea when Zen arrived.

Sometime later and the rather roomy waiting area was beginning to feel oppressive. Arin took a slow, slightly ragged breath and bounced her knees looking around at the few other occupants with little interest. In her head she was replaying the scene over again. How had Robyn ended up in the water. Was she watching them on her way back from the bathroom. How could she have failed to notice that her so called best friend was wheezing and in need of her inhaler. She felt achy and still wet. The hospital scrubs that the nurse had given her sat abandoned in the chair at her side along with the untouched cup of tea.

The air conditioning was working well here as a saviour from the heat but it wasn't exactly helping her dry out much. She knew she should go dry off and change but she didn't want to leave the waiting area without knowing Robyn was ok. She had to be ok.

Leaving the damp blanket on the chair Arin stood and began pacing the length of the chairs in their side of the waiting area. Thirteen steps forwards, one-step around, thirteen steps back, she counted.

Zen who watched his girlfriends progression frowning. "Wearing a trench in the carpet isn't going to help her you know." He said gently breaking the silence.

Arin shook her head and ignored him. She sat however and after a few more seconds bounced her knee again eyes trained on the door. Zen put a hand on her bouncing knee and squeezed gently. "She's going to be ok Arin. It's going to be ok." He soothed.

Female figure clad in a white lab coat entered the waiting area and looked around. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail. Her eyes fixed on the shivering Arin and then Slid to Zen before she made her way over. She smiled and cleared her throat slightly. "Are you two Arin Rae and Zenneth Macleod?"

"Yes." Arin replied standing. "Is Robyn alright? Is she going to be ok?"

The female doctor's smile brightened warmly at them. "I'm Doctor Cameron; Robyn's going to be just fine. She was on a respirator when they brought her in but she regained consciousness a little while ago and is now breathing on her own. She's going to be a little sore and achy but yes she is going to be fine."

Zenneth raised his eyebrows." A respirator? Isn't that serious?"

"The respirator was helping her breathe when she was brought in."She explained patiently. She turned to Arin " I understand you helped pull her out. That must have been very frightening for you. It looks like you pulled her out just in time."

"Can we see her?" Zen asked

Arin swallowed hard, her eyes slightly bloodshot. She rubbed part of her damp sleeve across them and Cameron looked away giving her a moment to compose herself while she pondered the boys question and said slowly. "Yes…you can as soon as she's back from CT…"

The doctor, Cameron, began explaining what was happening to Robyn and how when she was stable they would find her a room upstairs. But Arin didn't care. She let loose a painfully deep breath that she felt like she had been holding in for hours. Relief surged through her and she felt her body sag under it. One thing clear in her was going to be ok.

"I was wondering" Cameron continued. "Would either of you have contact details for Robyn's Parents…we've been unable to reach them via the numbers we have and I thought maybe you would have a cell phone number or something or another relative we could call?

"Yes" both of them replied together causing Cameron to smile wider.

"I'll go." Zen said kindly, giving Arin a pat on the arm. He dug into his jeans and produced a handful of coins which he handed over. "Why don't you go find us all a soda or something? Or just take a walk and dry out a bit?"

Arin nodded grateful of the distraction and watched Cameron lead Zen back down the corridor towards the main admit desk. Turning to her left, she picked a direction that looked remotely vending machine wielding and headed down it, her fingers jangling at the loose change in her damp pockets.


	4. Fizzing

Chapter Three - Fizzing

Six corridors and five floors. That's what it apparently took to find a set of working vending machines that did not read either out of order, out of stock or correct change only. The elevator opened into a sort of letter T shape with the corridors to her left and right snaking their way to parts unknown. Directly in front of the elevator doors was a sort of off cut from the main corridor which ended in the stairwell door and held only the required vending machine and a three seater sofa sort of thing. Arin walked towards the humming quarry and stopping stared at the device in front of her, something stirred deep in the recesses of her memory. Coins in one clenched fist she ran the fingertips of her empty left hand over the vending machine case tracing the white on red lettering and listening to the gentle hum of the refrigeration units.

She frowned and pushed the wet hair back out of her eyes as she tried to remember why this felt so familiar, slowly tuning out all sounds beyond the harmony of the machines.

Beyond the sphere of Arin's shrinking world the elevator door binged its arrival and smoothly slid open to reveal a tall man dressed in a crumpled blue shirt and walking with a cane.

From inside the wood paneled box, Dr House stepped out into the T junction corridor, still fuming from the most boring morning of stuffy noses, watery eyes, sunburn and generally annoying whining idiots that the streets of Princeton could muster. In addition, the apparent inability for the air-conditioning in his office to work had necessitated the hunt for something cold to drink. Even in that respect, he had lucked out, for the machines closest to his office were out of order and the next set were out of things to actually vend. He limped his way across the deserted hall into the junction and stopped in front of the first of three vending machines, finally grateful to have found one that both worked and had stock.

His leg burned from the added strain of his hunt. He inserted a couple of coins into the machine and hit a button with the handle of his cane. The rumbling as it produced his drink also seemed to stimulate a response in the only other occupant of the corridor.

The dark haired girl to his left jumped slightly as though only just noticing he were there. She dropped a quarter and bending to pick it up, brushed against the flowerpot housing the ghastly orange plant things Cuddy was using as 'ambient decoration'. The girl stood up and quickly put a series of coins into the machine, randomly pressing her hand across three buttons. They lit up and went out one by one as cans of soft drink were dispensed. He watched, noting two things that piqued his interest. Firstly she was soaking wet, as if she had recently been swimming and was waiting for the sheer heat to dry her off, but fully clothed. Secondly... he cast his eyes at her wrists she didn't seem to be wearing an sort of wrist band. Not a patient then. Thoughts of taking his hard won drink back to his office faded as he considered how she came to be in a hospital five floors up in her current state, but without any sort of obvious injury or sign someone had actually seen to her. He back peddled slowly and sank down onto the leather sofas opposite, watching her.

Arin sighed. She couldn't remember what she was supposed to be remembering. Her mind ticked back to the task at hand, and she scooped up her drinks without really looking to see what she had selected. She walked over to the sofa opposite and, observing social convention, threw herself down into the end seat its soft expanse feeling oddly comforting. The skin under her soggy blouse itched as it dried. She gently plucked the sheer material up and gave it a light shake to free it from the areas it stuck to her body. Looking down she noted for the first time that her bra was basically on view for the world. She flushed then feeling the heat rise up into her face. Well it wasn't like she could do much about it now.

How had she ended up here Arin wondered. The day had gone drastically askew. She should be either still at the mall having a pretzel or helping Robyn sneak her purchases into the house via the back door. The thought of Robyn made her eyes prickle. With a sigh she brought the soda can in her right hand up to the nape of her neck and the one in her left to her forehead. She hissed slightly as it touched her forehead and caused a stab of pain but it was gone as soon as it had come and swallowing she sat there, her eyes closed enjoying the silence and ignorant of the man sitting beside her.

The man, however, did not seem to be ignorant of her. She felt his weight shift as he turned towards her and then an awkwardly upbeat voice stated, "you know, they stopped making that stuff in the mid nineties after they realised what the long term effects of radiation was on the Chernobyl babies."

Arin slowly opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to look at him a bemused expression crossing her features, " Sorry?" She asked.

"It's like those pots of botanical nightmares over there..." He gestured towards the plant pots and waited. The girl blinked at him as if unsure what to say to such a statement and followed his gesture to look at the offending items herself. "... both relics of the USSR's nuclear programme."

A smile now played across her features and she turned to look at him. Taking in his crumpled shirt and jeans she made eye contact and blinked at the starling blue colour of his eyes above a tentative smile. It was almost, she mused, as if he wasn't used to making jokes. Or...he wasn't used to making jokes that didn't get him slapped. Taking the can away from her forehead she looked at it closely, "Sunkist?"

"Yeah," her companion agreed. " That thing almost contains enough waste for it to eat through the can."

He watched her as she turned the soda over and read the ingredients list. The corners of his mouth twitched as she made a face of disgust. "Be warned not all mutations grant super powers. Take my advice, toss that one in the trash."

The girl seemed to contemplate this a moment looking at the trash can nearby. She bent and put the soda down on the floor at her feet. Unopened. "Thanks for the tip," she said. Her voice sounded slightly hoarse.

Taking it as an opening, House shifted across the sofa and extended a hand. "Greg House. Archeologist, excavator and fellow seeker of the elusive cold beverage."

Arin watched him somewhat warily move himself towards her and then blinked at the proffered hand. Years of social training took over; she smiled lightly and took it in her own. He had a strong grip. "Arin Rae. I thought they had scrapped the male role when they decided to go for Lara over Lawrence."

The girls fingers felt cold, though given she had been holding a chilled soda and recently went for a 'swim', it was not surprising. "Even the greatest female tomb raider of all time learnt from a man."

Arin laughed. Then stopped as though she were afraid she would be caught doing something inappropriate. She glanced around and blushed slightly. Self consciously pushing her dark hair off of her forehead and behind her ears.

House watched the girl as she shifted a clump of hair away from her damp forehead, revealing a laceration about the length of his fingernail centred around a darkening bruise. He frowned. Even in today's safety mad society, that cut did not merit a trip to the ER. Nor did the bruise. Though he could not rule out a concussion at this stage. This puzzle would require a bit more poking.

"So, what happened to your head?"

Arin frowned her expression becoming confused. She reached a hand tentatively up to the area and pressed. A stab on pain rewarded her prodding and she hissed through her teeth, withdrawing her fingers and looking at them it wasn't bleeding now but given the rough feeling she associated with dried blood it obviously had been under her hair.

" I'm not sure…" she said slowly.

Great, House thought. kid doesn't even realise she's knocked a chip out of her skull. That meant she had either been in too much shock at the time to notice the injury, suffered short term memory loss and forgotten about it, or was a troll, and would have suddenly noticed it in about two days time. Either way, it helped him naught. Perhaps he should ask his next question using words containing only one syllable and a lot of grunts.

As her new companion considered her she thought back to the events of the mall and of finding Robyn. She paled slightly. "...There was an accident. It all happened so fast." She turned to look at him. Her eyes shiny as though she were trying not to cry. She turned away again and looked at her feet.

House took a long drink from his soda, only vaguely aware that she had spoken. Fishing in his pockets for his Vicodin netted him only a roll of Mentos and an empty orange bottle. Bastard! He'd swallowed the last of it while enduring the whingings of that idiotic gardener. His thoughts immediately drifted to the stash in his office. He was currently two floors and several corridors away. His leg would not cope with that trek without at least another fifteen minutes rest. Cursing his continued streak of bad luck, House unwound the loose paper of the mints and popped one in his mouth.

Minutes passed. "Lost something?" Arin asked. Composed for now she leaned back into the sofa and tilted her head at him ponderously.

House turned to face the girl, not allowing the 'caught with his pants down' look to show. The discovery of having finished his Vicodin had almost caused him to forget his dry docked water baby. "Grown up stuff," he replied, intending to close the matter before it even opened.

If his response annoyed her she didn't show it. Instead Arin placed the can of Diet Coke on her forehead again and sighed. "Do you ever look around yourself and wonder how the hell did i get here?" She asked glancing at him.

"I'd say all the time, but mostly it's at 3am."

She chuckled again and took another deep breath letting it out slowly. " I think i may be too young for that particular reference."

House gave her a sideways look. "What self respecting teenager hasn't been wasted at 3am and went for a dip in the neighbours pool at least once?"

Arin turned to look at him fully, making eye contact. Brown eyes to blue. " That's not what happened if that's what you're getting ready to segue into. Just so we are clear." Her tone was slightly clipped. " It was an accident." This guy was weird she thought, no doubts about that. Watching his eyes while he formulated his response Arin had the sudden and unnerving feeling that he could see through her, like she were being x-rayed.

House smirked to himself and resisted the bait she offered to divert his segue. She deserved points for recognising it, but he would not be deterred by a damp teenager, no matter how skimpy and see through her attire. "So…." he elongated for effect. "What kind of accident are we talking about here? One with copious amounts of water I'd wager."

"Wow...you must be like some sort of detective or something," she retorted. "The real question you want answered isn't what sort of accident. Rather, why is there a girl soaked from head to toe standing in a hospital five floors up from the ER with no obvious injuries or sign she has actually come in via the ER. That's the real noggin' scratcher right?" She frowned at him expectantly.

"I thought that one would have been obvious…?" For the second time House left the door ajar for a response.

Arin shook her head and looked away towards the vending machines. All she had wanted was five minutes of peace.

It almost disappointed House when none came; this girl had been doing so well too.

"...looking for soda." Arin said without looking away from the machines as though they had jogged the thought loose in her mind.

House smiled to himself as the words were snatched from his lips. Perhaps there was hope for this one yet. Quickly he prepared a second ball for service. "I suppose your point about obvious injuries would call into question your wider health. Given the fact that you were so oblivious to that chip in your skull." He managed to suppress a smirk. Lets see how she handles that he thought.

This caught her attention. She raised one dark eyebrow, on her uninjured side, in an arch that would have made Mr Spock jealous and considered him. " Wider health Doctor House?" She asked with a genuine note of curiosity in her tone.

House studied each an every twitch in her face and body language. Searching for any sort of boby pin that would help him pick this particular lock. When she spoke he maintained his infamous poker face. Well, she was better than the rabble he'd dealt with down in the clinic, though that wasn't saying much. Then again it could simply have been a wild punt upfield. His comment about 'wider health' hadn't exactly been subtle. Still, why not throw a dog a bone. They had a tendency to do more tricks that way.

"You've suffered head trauma that could have caused more damage than a simple laceration and bruising. Some form of concussion would not be surprising. You should really get it checked out downstairs."

Arin smiled as her suspicion was confirmed and brought her hand back to her forehead as he spoke. She shrugged. "You and I both know that it's not that bad. Some ice and Tylenol is all I need. And that can wait."

House laughed internally. Whenever he encountered someone so apathetic to their own health, he was reminded of a lung cancer patient who had felt 'fine' only a month before dropping dead. In his experience such stupidity only lead to a premature grave. However, the girl beside him did not seem the sort to be swayed by a 'prophet of doom' charade. Instead, he elected to try a rarely used tool in his arsenal, concern.

"Look," he began, trying his best to sound as if he genuinely cared about the girls wellbeing, "while you're not likely to bleed out from such a small cut, the bruising around it indicates that the trauma would have been sufficient to cause concussion. While I understand that you're concerned about your friend, you should at least make sure that your not going to collapse the second you walk out the door." House paused for a moment before realising he had forgotten something. "It's what he/she would want."

The smile that stretched across the girls pale features was a mixture of amusement and something else. She turned to face him again and looked him up and down as if sizing him up for the first time. "Actually that's not at all what they would want." She paused as if considering. "What they would want is for me to get a hairbrush and a hell of a lot of conditioner, and to make sure that her Grandmother didn't see the…" she trailed off considering. What the hell had they done with the bags? She couldn't remember. She had just followed the paramedics and sat down in the ambulance. If they had tried to ask her to leave she didn't remember either. Zen had followed in his car...arriving ten minutes or so after Arin had sat down in the waiting area. Maybe he had them.

"So it is a friend who's holled up downstairs in the ER and a girl friend at that," House interjected. The girl had done well not to betray the sex of the individual, however, had slipped up with the grandmother comment. Or maybe he was simply feeling for resistance that did not exist.

She looked down at her clothing wondering how many of Robyn's new purchases she would need to lay claim to in order for her friend to stay out of trouble or if the whole near drowning thing would mean she didn't need to do that at all. She ran her index fingers along the edges of the denim shorts pulling it slightly free from her thighs. These were very tight uncomfortable shorts. She surveyed her legs but the tightness wasn't the worst thing.

"You know what the most stupid thing about these shorts is?" she asked House as she observed a few scrapes and some bruises that certainly hadn't been there that morning.

"Major wedgies?"

With a shake of her head Arin gave him a would be withering look. "No. It's that they don't give enough protective coverage." She rubbed her hand gently up her calf and then felt a surge of guilt. Here she was sitting talking to this random stranger and complaining about some stupid superficial bruises while Robyn was downstairs having almost died. Arin huffed a sigh and shuffled her feet, eyes casting about the corridor as if taking in the place properly for the first time. She hated hospitals, hated the way they looked and the way they smelled. Like a swimming pool, but instead of excitement and fun the smell evoked a sense of loss and a kind of trapped feeling that, if she let it, made her feel physically sick.

Taking the comment as an invitation to leer, House allowed his gaze to trail down her thin, pale legs to a pair of ruined, well-worn red converse. He cocked his head upon noticing the stitched star and scuffed text on the outside of the left shoe. Those babies were limited edition and would have cost at least $350 new… if they were genuine.

"Are those custom stitched 2001 converse ex13-bright stars?"

Looking at her shoes Arin clicked the heels together and considered them. They had been a gift bought for her 15th birthday from her Grandfather...more likely purchased by her Grandfather's assistant. She hated to admit that she hadn't really questioned the shoes origins rather just delighted in the fact that they were so comfortable and right up her street. Harrison really did his job well she mused. "Probably." She admitted out loud to House. "They were a gift."

No surprises there then, House thought. Only the really rich brats would get away with downing that much on one pair of shoes. Still, her family most likely had money or one of her friends was very generous. For a moment he sat and pondered. The name Rae rang some sort of bell down in the dark and dusty depths of his mind, however, he had never been interested in New Jersey genealogy. On a related matter there had been something bothering him about the girls attire that he had put down to the damp. Yet having now given it headspace he realised he had in fact missed a trick.

"Those clothes don't belong to you," he said matter of factly, then added, "unless of course you have absolutely zero fashion sense… by Jersey standards."

"Really?" She asked him. "And how'd you work that out?" She didn't deny the claim.

"Those shoes are both well worn and you've admitted to being the owner. However, in no world of fashion do they match the shorts and peasant blouse ensemble." He gave her a devilish smirk. "Or is there a thing going on amongst the upper classes where they try to get in touch with their working class side."

Tilting her head she considered him again, "Ok…" she started. "You get upper class from the rarity of the converse. Assuming they are genuine of course. But what if I'm not. What if they were a gift when my gambler mother won it big or my father got a huge settlement for an accident on the construction site?" She smirked, was she enjoying this random interlude into the weirdness of the day. " It's a flimsy premis to go on if you ask me, half guesswork and half assumption. I thought doctors dealt in fact."

If House was taken aback any by her ballsiness, he did not show it. Though it was not often someone, other than one of his team, tried to call him on his deductions. He gave her a smile. "It's the accent, or lack thereof." He raised his eyebrows knowingly. "We're in Jersey."

"You are making the assumption that regional dialects are synonymous with social dialect. Lower classes tend to speak non standard dialects, upper classes to speak standard dialects. That's what you are working with. But what about middle class. Which my previous points would put me in, the dialect could still be standardised there as many working middle class families do speak more of a standard class dialect as they hope to one day move up and it makes them more acceptable." She gave him another smile. "Still a pretty flimsy premis."

House's smile widened and he waited a moment to see if the girl would notice that she had fallen squarely in a pitfall trap that Team Rocket would have been proud of.

Arin watched him, noted the grin and looked confused a moment before she rolled her eyes and sighed. Her smile gone. "I just played your hand for you didnt I?" she asked.

"More that you've placed your cards face up on the table, but thanks for playing."

House gave her a moment to reevaluate the situation and helped himself to another mint and mouthful of coke, enjoying the fizzing sensation on his tongue when the pair unceremoniously collided.

She smiled and shook her head again. "You know, you are possibly the strangest person I have ever met." She leaned back into the sofa and pinched the bridge of her nose as if her head hurt. "It's been a very long weird day." She added softly.

House resisted the urge to say, 'I get that a lot, I don't know why'. Instead he swallowed the remnant of his candy and decided to bring the conversation back to the point at hand,specifically the accident that led to the girl sitting on a sofa soaking wet, five floors up and conversing with an old drug deprived doctor.

"So what happened to your friend to land her a spot downstairs?"

Closing her eyes Arin drew in breath as if to explain then stopped. Silence for a few heartbeats. "I don't really know." She said finally without opening her eyes. "Long story short, she fell into a fountain…"

House considered things for a moment. He was beginning to see how this so called 'concerned and caring' attitude worked. Was this what it felt like to be be Cameron? No, he reasoned. There was a distinct lack of whining and breast tissue for that. He turned back just in time to hear the word fountain. He racked his brain. Teenage school kids spending the day together somewhere that had a fountain large enough for a girl of about 5"7' to go for a swim in… "The John McPhearson Mall," he then said aloud.

Unaware that House was soul searching by her side Arin furrowed her brow thoughtfully and continued, eyes still closed. "... the real question is how the hell did she get in the fountain to begin with. I think she took an asthma attack and passed out. She must have been sitting on the upper pool or something. I don't know if she hit her head or what but I think she was unconscious by the time we noticed her…" she trailed off. " I mean if she had been taken an Asthma attack and fell in the water it would stop right? Isn't that a thing.. divers reflex?"

Well, that spoiled the fun, House thought, feeling slightly cheated. If he'd wanted the particulars laid bare he could have called down to the ER and had the attending fill him in. It wouldn't have been difficult. How many soaking wet teenagers could they have gotten on a day like this?

Arin seemed to be recounting the events of the accident. In her head she replayed Robyn's skirt askew, the hair trapped in the stupid pump thing...what would have happened if they hadn't got the power off when they did. And the sight of her when she lay on the ground. Lips blue, skin pure white and makeup running while the woman tried to resuscitate her. It took Arin back to another sort of half memory that she tried to suppress...of someone else pale and lifeless while desperately someone tried to resuscitate them...alarms blaring. The noise echoed inside her head and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her, her palms grew slick and an acidic taste like bile filled her mouth. She swallowed hard and tried not to throw up.

When neither party bothered to continue the conversation, House turned to look at the girl. Her cheeks had gone pale and her eyes, while not quite glassy, seemed to have zoned out. Doctor mode kicked in and he instinctively delved into his pocket for his penlight. Reaching out with his left hand, House took hold of her chin and gently turned the girls face towards him and shone the bright, white light into her eyes.

"You ok?" he asked, the feigned concern dropping from his tone as he reverted back to House classic.

At first there was no response from her. Her pupils constricted under the light. His words seemed to rouse her in a sort of dazed delayed reaction. She blinked hard then screwed her eyes up at the light and pulled her head away from his grasp. "What are you doing...?" she demanded weakly.

She looked around and drew a shaky breath. "I need to go." She said more to herself than him. She pushed her hands into the sofa, scooped her soda up and stood. The momentum seemed to carry her further than she meant however and she swayed slightly as the nausea was replaced with a wave of dizziness. She slowly lowered herself to the seat again.

House reached up and taking hold of her arms, helped guide the girl back down to the sofa. From the brief glimpse he had gotten of her eyes and the clear sudden onset of dizziness, he could tell that the bonk to the head had indeed rendered her with some form of concussion. Taking her wrist between his thumb and forefingers, he looked at his watch and began to count.

After exactly a minute, he announced, "your tachycardic and are suffering bouts of vertigo when you try to stand up. You've got a concussion and need to take a trip back downstairs." On hearing his own words, he thought for a moment. "In fact it's probably best if you don't use the stairs… or go by yourself."

With his free hand House reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Flipping it open he scrolled through his contacts until he found Foreman's number and hit the call button. It rang three times before the irate voice of his lackie answered.

"House, what do you want?"

Arin sat with her eyes closed willing the dizzy feeling away. She was only partly aware of House while she focused on getting herself under control. As it ebbed she moved her arm and felt both pressure over the pulse point in her wrist and resistance to her movement. Her eyes flew open and registered House holding her wrist, his phone in his other hand and the fact he were speaking to someone else just as he said…

"I need a wheelchair up on floor five. The vending machines in that alcove opposite the elevators."

Panic, sudden and sharp hit her heart, she blinked furiously and pulled sharply at her assailant as he held her. Her breathing hitched up a notch and unable to free herself she did the only thing that came to mind. She reached over, grabbed the phone from his unsuspecting hand with her free one and snapping it closed, tossed it towards the end of the sofa. It sailed through the air and came to a stop on the leather arm rest before falling onto the floor with a small clatter and sliding out of reach.

Both House and Arin watched it in the sort of stunned silence that follows such an act. Arin stared at her hand as though shocked at what she had just done.

"Hey!" House exclaimed, his tone a cocktail of anger, annoyance and surprise.

The shock wore off and she pulled her hand again trying to free it from his grasp. "Let me go!" She stated as she struggled.

Inadvertently acquiescing to her request, House let go of her wrist. Casting his gaze across the polished floor to where his cell phone lay, he groaned internally. The damn thing was out of reach for both his arm and cane. Cursing under his breath, he turned his attention to the aforementioned stick of wood that sat between him and the now vandalous little pixie. Gripping the handle firmly in his right hand, he maneuvered the tip to hover above her left foot. Pushing down with all his weight, House used the cane to help him rise.

Pain flared in her foot and she yelped. "Ow!" Her attention immediately turned to her foot and then looking up at him she glared. Her cheeks flushing in anger. "What the Fuck!?" She demanded. "What did you do that for?!" She too got to her feet her earlier difficulty apparently forgotten. The fingers of her right hand clenched on the single can of soda that had rested against her leg, her knuckles had turned white, her breathing slightly ragged.

House ignored the outburst and, completely oblivious to the daggers she was now staring at him, stepped forwards a few paces and bent down to pick up his cell. Continuing to blank her, he shuffled backwards and sat back down, carefully turing the device around in his hands to check for any damage. Kids these days were so darn disrespectful of other people's property.

Arin scowled and shaking her head looked away at the elevators. " You know what fine…"

The words her brain supplied helpfully from the list of appropriate things to say like 'Sorry,' and 'I shouldn't have thrown your phone.' Or even ' I will pay for that if it's damaged.' Refused to leave her mouth as if she were physically unable to state them to this man. She closed her eyes and tried to get a grip on herself. Instead what came out was. "...Forget it." And she moved in front of him to get by. She had enough of this, heart hammering in her chest and throat now feeling dry she kept her hands clenched, one around the soda can and one in a fist.

The movement of the girl eventually registered in House's brain and he pocketed his cell. Regardless of her hoodlum-esqu behaviour, she was still in need of medical attention. Something that, somehow, he was sure she would not go get if he allowed her to walk past him and to the elevators. Cane still firmly in his hand, House quickly shoved it between her legs and twisted trying to redirect her momentum back towards the sofa.

Arin took one step, collided with the wood of the cane and yelped again as it jarred her shin. The twist propelled her back as if she had been pushed, causing her to automatically step backwards to try and regain her balance and for her heels to make contact with the edge of the sofa. With nowhere to go she wobbled and then fell back into the middle cushion with a slight 'oof', once again, By the irate Doctor's side.

"What's your problem?!" she demanded sounding winded.

"Idiot's that ignore good medical advice grind my gears," he replied with mock offence. "Now, why don't you sit there while my underling fetches you a nice, safe wheelchair." His words may have held a hint of humor, however, he was through with joking. This mild case of concussion could very well get him out of clinic duty for the rest of the day if he played his cards right.

Scowling darkly Arin pushed her free hand into the sofa again and got to her feet. "I didn't ask for your help. I don't want your help. And I don't need a wheelchair." She stated her tone verging from indignant to defensive.

The girls attitude reminded House of exactly why he disliked the gentry. Though come to think of it, he did not know for certain that she belonged to it. Perhaps it was a subconscious recollection of something he had encountered regarding the family name, Rae. Regardless, it made no difference. They had all that money, yet the one thing they couldn't buy was common sense… and there she was trying to get up again. House rolled his eyes, stretched out his arm and caught her trailing hand. With a quick tug he hauled her back down towards the brown leather.

Arin yelped out loud and snatched her hand away from his towards her chest as if his touch had burned her. "Don't touch me!" She spat at him. " Let me go."

House brought his piercing blue eyes up to meet her deep browns. Locking her gaze he took in her pale features. Her palm felt sweaty in his firm grip. He didn't need to touch her pulse point to know that her heart rate had shot up to new heights.

"All the colour has drained from your face," he began, using his authoritative doctor voice. "Your palms are sweaty and your heart rate has increased again. Right now, for some reason which I am sure there is a fascinating explanation for, you're beginning to panic. I'd even go as far to say that your displaying symptoms of paranoia."

That last comment may have been a stretch but she didn't need to know that. The more unusual her symptoms, the less likely it would be that Cuddy would detect he intended to use the kid to skip out on clinic duty.

Arin stared at him, she could hear her heart beating in her chest and the blood it pulled rushed to her ears. Like a small roar. She struggled against his grip again and felt a surge of adrenaline. Why she fought him, she herself did not know. All she knew was that this man had hold of her and intended to take her somewhere she didn't want to go and do...god knows what. She felt confined and unable to breathe.

He continued to watch her, blue eyes boring into dark browns once more. "Look," he tried to reason." I'm a Doctor, I want to help you. I'm not going to hurt you, idiot."

His eyes, brilliant blue commanded her to look at him, to see sense and listen to him but they unnerved her in a way she more felt than understood. She wasn't listening to anything he said. It just sounded like noise. It was fight or flight time and she had no way of escaping and nothing to fight him with. Unless...she glanced down at the soda can she still clutched in her free hand and manoeuvring her thumb popped the lid. It resisted a second then depressed with a short hiss. Starting to hyperventilate and desperate to get loose she brought the can between them both and upturned it into his lap.

House noticed too late what the girl was doing. In a vain attempt to evade the gush of liquid, he shifted as far back into the couch as he could, to no avail. The soda splashed over his lap and he instinctively released his grip on her hand and batted at the freefalling can; it bounced off his knee and fell to the floor. Oblivious to what the girl was now doing, House stood up and tried to brush what little standing liquid that remained from his crotch.

Arin fled up the corridor and towards the elevator. The adrenaline rush giving her speed. She slid to a stop at the doors and jabbed hurriedly and repeatedly at the button to summon the behemoth of escapism that it now represented. "Hurry up, hurry up!" She bounced on the balls of her feet. Like a smoke grenade, that can wouldn't keep him busy for long and she had to get away.

By the time House realised that there was nothing more he could do for his juiced jeans, the girl had already made it halfway down the hallway. The moment of surprise and shock had already ebbed, but the sight of her fleeing had replaced all thoughts of helping her with just one, vengeance. Taking in the large bottle of soda on the front of a vending machine, he felt the faint lingering taste of mint on his tongue when he rolled it around his mouth. He smirked to himself. Time for that bitch to get a taste of her own medicine. He was only vaguely aware of the irony of that sentiment as he quickly formulated a plan.

Cane in hand, House quickly crossed the short distance between the sofa and the machines. Stuffing his hand inside his pocket he pulled out a fistfull of coins and hurriedly shoved them into the solitary machine that vended bottles; not giving a wooden nickel about correct change. Come on, come on, he cursed as he waited for his weapon of choice to fall. The loud thud of the bottle landing filled the hallway and House quickly bent down to snatch it. Limping as quickly as he could, he set off after his prey.

The elevator binged it's arrival and Arin roughly shoved her way in before the doors were even fully open. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered her Grandmother teaching her she should always wait for the elevator to fully come up and open to make sure it was actually there and she wasn't about to step into an empty shaft.

Thankfully the elevator gods were kind it seemed and she spun around desperately seeking the buttons to get her out of this corridor. She hit one and risked a look at House and the corridor she had just vacated. She frowned at what he was doing in confusion.

House could only watch the girl scurry into the elevator. There was no chance he'd make it to the door before it closed and the carriage departed. With only a split second to choose, he stopped dead with about eight feet to go and hurriedly unscrewed the bottle cap. Pulling the last of the Mentos out of his pocket, he looked up at her and smirked.

"Fire in the hole," he declared, as in one fluid motion he dropped the candies into the bottle and lobbed it into the elevator. The chemical reaction took hold mid-flight, the air turning the bottle neck upwards towards the lift just in time for the main geyser to burst out spraying into the carriage.

Arin yelled and cowered from the fizzy onslaught as she was sprayed. The bottle then landed at her feet, clearing the closing door just in the nick of time in a move that Indiana Jones himself couldn't have achieved. It lay still for a split second as if in shock then erupted, spitting, fizzing and hissing like an angry cat.

"Bullseye!" House declared. He did a fistpump as the doors closed. That would teach the smart-mouthed, punk-assed, ragamuffin a lesson. Physics always wins. Now to get back to his office and change before someone saw him and started spreading gossip about him pissing himself.

Arin screamed and closing her eyes shrank against the wall of the elevator where she slid down to her haunches on the floor as if that would save her from some of the mess. She was, for the second time that day soaked. This time large dark stains covered her light blouse and shorts. Her yells echoed up the shaft to her assailants waiting ears as the black bulb of the camera in the corner dripped quietly observing all.

A slight squeaking sound announced an arrival into the corridor just as one left. Eric Foreman stood behind an empty wheelchair frowning quizzically at his strangely happy looking boss.

"Uh…" he began looking from House to the closed elevator doors and drippings of some sort of liquid. "...what are you doing?" His tone was mildly exasperated, mildly intrigued. " What's up with the wheelchair...have you actually got a patient?" He looked around for some in the otherwise empty junction. Then frowned, screwing his nose up.

"Are your pants wet?" He asked sounding mildly disgusted now.

The untimely arrival of his underling deprived House of both his quick getaway and time to relish in his victims echoed screams. Still, such a performance demanded some form of good exit. Jabbing the call button with his cane, House shot Foreman a mischievous look with one eye.

"You were getting lazy sitting in that office while the rest of us were out hunting for patients. I thought you could use the exercise."

Anger flared across Foreman's features. " You mean to say you called me to bring you this when you didn't actually need it?" He turned around and shook his head.

"No… I inferred that you were getting fat. That labcoat really is starting to look a bit tight."

"Oh yeah real mature House. And here I thought you actually needed help. Your mother never teach you the story of the boy who cried wolf?"

"She did," House conceded. "Only when she told it, the boy had a crossbow and shot the wolf dead. He made a pretty penny selling the pelt. That's capitalism for you."

Foreman muttered darkly, head shaking incredulously and spinning on his heel marched off leaving the wheelchair with House. "Chase is doing crosswords!" He yelled over his shoulder without looking back. "Next time bother him." He turned left and vanished.

"Wrong again," House called after him. "My patients about to drop in on Cameron. Make sure your good and ready for diagnosing after lunch. Or it might be your pelt we end up selling."

The apparent victor in two rounds against two opponents, House smirked to himself as the doors to the elevator on the left binged open and greeted him with a soda free carriage. He limped in, pressed the cane into the button and waited. Time for lunch.


	5. Makot Mitzrayim- All Hail House.

Chapter Four - Makot Mitzrayim- All Hail House.

Lunch time, the time of day when people at Princeton Plainsboro teaching hospital, generally, attempted to find food. The extreme heat meant that many of the staff who found themselves off duty or able to grab a quick bite were situated inside the cafeteria, the air conditioning up to full. Those who considered themselves brave enough to venture outside, looked longingly back at the building, and weighed the possibility of entering it again without having to leave the shade.

Unaware of the battle of indecisiveness, Doctor James Wilson sat in his office with his shirt sleeves rolled up and his lab coat hanging on the back of his chair. He flipped another folder closed and ran a hand wearily across his forehead. Though the air-conditioning was on and his windows wide open he still felt the perspiration trickle down his neck. He reached for another file and delved head first into his work, trying to find a distraction from the intensifying dull throb in his skull.

He finished one page and glancing up made a grab for the cold cup of coffee in front of him. He lifted it to his lips then sighed as nothing came out. Apparently it wasn't half empty, it was fully empty. Standing stiffly Wilson stretched his back gently and groaned. He rolled his hunched shoulders willing the muscles to relax and crossed his office to the coffee pot by the window.

As he stood directly under the breeze of air con and filling his cup he glanced sideways through the glass door onto the balcony that separated both him and House in time to see the other Doctor holding a pile of what looked like clothing in the crook of his arm close the blinds and vanish from view.

With a shrug, House was always up to something, Wilson drank long and deep from his mug and then grimaced as the liquid burnt his throat. He really should go home but with the work he still had to do...no he had cancelled his appointments for the day and could sit and catch up first. He sat back down and pulled himself closer to the desk. Picking his pen up he read his last comment and started again.

So absorbed was he that he did not pay any attention some twenty minutes later or so to the door to his office opening quietly nor to the person who limped through it. It was not until a sharp bang announced the head of a cane on his desk that he even so much as gave his visitor reason to suspect he was aware of their presence at all. Disappointingly he didn't jump.

"House…" he sighed tiredly without looking up from his work. He raised his free hand in a placating sort of gesture and continued writing with the other. " I have three months worth of charting to do and two clinical trials to submit patients for. Whatever this is make it quick."

The other doctor's response was to draw the cane back across the desk onto the floor and back hooking Wilson's satchel with it.

"It's lunch time." House said. His tone light and matter of fact. He limped over and dropped himself into the chair opposite causing Wilson to sigh again when he heard the seat springs creak as though he realised that the sound meant his visitor was hunkering down for the long hall. He needed to nip that in the bud quickly.

"And..."Wilson began still without looking up, as though eye contact would seal his doom. " ..You've lost your way to the cafeteria again? Funny how you always seem to find it no problem when i'm there."

A rustle of foil sounded before House spoke again. "It's Ham and pickle day." He said as if this answered all of the potential questions that were about to come up.

That did it, Wilson paused in his notation his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "You don't like pickle…" he finally looked up at his friend.

House sat relaxed, leaning back into the chair as he fiddled with a foil package.

"Exactly. However, thanks to our esteemed dean of medicine cutting corners on this months food budget the cafeteria now…on Tuesdays serves ham and pickle. I've been forced to seek out alternatives" House replied as he peeled the two bits of sandwich from inside the foil apart to peer at the filling.

"You've taken up cooking?" Wilson enquired as he wiped his hand over his sweaty forehead again and went back to his notes. He frowned sudden,y as a thought struck him and cast about for his bag. That foil looked very familiar.

"No…I've found another cafeteria. They serve better sandwiches anyway." House emphasised his point by putting both sandwiches together and biting into the soft bread.

Long suffering, exasperated, annoyed. All of these things at once made Wilson put his hand up to his forehead and rub. "Is that my lunch." He demanded.

House didn't answer merely chewed. "Is it just me….or is the true art of sandwich making restricted only to those of your faith? How do you Jews do it?" he asked as he bit into the bread again.

Wilson sighed, deeply, again at the joke and put his pen firmly many potential avenues to take in response but rather than get outright angry, which never irked the caustic diagnostician anyway, Wilson went with..."Sorry Pharaoh house….the secrets of my people's sandwich making is denied to you." He remarked sarcastically. "Now return the sandwich to ye old sacred lunch box lest the wrath of Egypt and the ten plagues of Princeton reign down upon on you." He held his hand out in a firm 'give that to me now' gesture.

House watched him and chewed his last mouthful. Carefully calculating the boundaries of which he could push in this instance. His blue eyes roved across his friends face a second before he gave a sniff and threw the half-eaten sandwich back into the foil, wrapped it haphazardly and placed the Tupperware box it resided in firmly back on the desk. Using his cane to knock it back into place as well as knocking over Wilson's lamp.

"I knew I never should have let your people go!" he exclaimed as he sat back in the chair. "But…the parting of the red sea was cool I suppose. Hard to ignore that."

Wilson scowled for the first time, his face etched with a mingle of annoyance and sweat."Let's see, if we continue your rather stereotypical assessment we have two choices either doomed to walk forty years in the desert or doomed to a rule of tyranny. Tough call." He began but the running joke between them came to a grinding halt as the oncologist was silenced by House's intensive, inquisitive gaze.

The unkempt looking doctor tilted his head slightly. His eyes flickering between the open windows and the air vent.

"What?" Wilson demanded as he followed his friends gaze around the room.

"It's a cool 68 degrees in here" House stated and flashed a piercing look back to Wilson's face. " Air conditioning is on and all of the windows are open…but you're sweating and still flushed. Are you sick?"

House rose slightly and leaning over the desk put the back of his hand on the unsuspecting Wilson's forehead. Wilson blinked then threw the hand off with a shrug back out of reach. He glared at House.

"It's not anything you'd be interested in." He told House whose expression stated very much the opposite. " I have a summer cold if you must know…" he deflected. " Why are you still in here anyway? You've gotten most of my lunch why aren't you in your own office? "

"You're air conditioning is working. Mines broken." He said in a bored way. "Summer cold hu? What are the symptoms? Low-grade fever? What 99.9-100.2?"

Wilson stretched and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to alleviate the headache. He closed his eyes . " What has your hand gone digital now? That's impressive even for you."

The rumpled looking man in white band shirt and jeans didn't respond. Wilson opened his eyes to find the chair empty then jumped slightly when he noted movement to his left. House was now sitting on the edge of the desk closest to him. How the hell had he gotten there. The guy could be stealthy despite what his gait suggested.

House reached both hands up to the sides of Wilson's neck. He palpate the glands a second before the oncologist once again shrugged him off. House frowned looking offended.

"House...I'm not doing this with you." Wilson said shaking his head. " Leave me alone. Like I said it's just a summer cold."

House fumbled in his pocket and procured a penlight. He clicked it on and took hold of Wilson by the chin. "Open up…" he said trying to get a look in his friends mouth.

Again Wilson shrugged House off. "House I said no."

Looking annoyed and wounded House put his penlight back into his pocket and stood up. He limped away from Wilson and for a second the light haired Doctor was sure he was about to grab his cane and storm off. Instead he sat down in his original chair and spun his cane between his fingers frowning.

Silence stretched between the two for a few seconds. Wilson felt slightly guilty. He opened his mouth to...apologise? He wasn't sure himself when House beat him to the punch.

"Why is it when I genuinely want to help people they don't want my help?" He asked causing the oncologist to gawp at him. Slowly Wilson swallowed and frowning actually looked at House for the first time. The obvious statement wouldn't work.

"Is that Why you changed your clothes?" Wilson ventured causing House to look down at the black jeans and t-shirt combo he had replaced his blue ones and shirt for.

"Something like that." House stated. He stood again and reaching into his back pocket pulled his prescription pad out. He took the pen from Wilson's desk and wrote on it for a few seconds then capping the pen ripped the sheet off and handed it across. "That will help with the fever and headache. You'll need something different if you develop a cough."

Wilson took it and glanced at the writing. He felt a warm sort of glow in his chest and smiling looked back up to find House watching him. The other doctor pulled a face.

"Oh don't do that." House snarked.

"What?"

"That. The I'm so thankful for a friend that cares I feel all warm and gooey inside. That's the virus talking."

Wilson raised his eyebrows. " I wasn't…"

"Yes you were. I can see it in your stupid face."

Wilson held his hand up and sank back into his chair tucking the script into his shirt pocket. " So what happened earlier."

"Nothing. Just some punk kid with a head injury." House spun his cane again as both men sat silently.

Wilson looked confused. "In the clinic? Did they get sick on you or something?"

"Or something." House said his expression breaking into an evil looking grin.

Wilson gave a pained look and picked up the earlier conversation. "See looks like that are why people don't want you to help. But if you are going for madman with a hint of evil dictator you are somewhere between overlord and Bond villain. Sans cat."

House chucked. " I'd prefer the term Pharaoh if you don't mind."

"Yeah. I bet you would." Wilson continued. " And I suppose when they mummify you they'll have a set of three separate sarcophagi. One for you one for your Cane and the other for your stash of Vicodin!"

House waved his cane at this. " Too right. Only the important things I'll need in the other world. But at least I know I won't be lonely."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"You'll be there right along with me."

"Me?" The bemused expression gave House permission to continue.

"Yeah. They always buried the servants with the masters. I mean how am I expected to eat in the afterlife without my sandwich Slave." Houses eyes flashed with mischief as he waited for his friends response.

Wilson closed his eyes as if the comment physically caused pain. He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him but before he could respond the door to his office opened again and in the doorway stood Cuddy. She looked both men over then turned a stern no nonsense expression towards House.

"House. In my office. Now." She breathed fury evident in her every syllable.

Wilson turned a puzzled look at House, eyes clearly screaming 'what did you do this time.' House however stared at Cuddy with an expression that clearly stated. 'Uh Oh...busted.'

** 45 minutes ago (approx.)**

Arin ran her tongue across her lips tasting Diet Coke. She huddled against the far corner of the elevator and opening one eye looked at the now still bottle on the floor. Dark liquid still oozed out of it staining the light coloured flooring. Patches of coke had splattered across her legs and arms making her feel sticky and wet.

The doors of the elevator binged and opened into another corridor. Arin shakily stood and tried to brush off the wetness with her hands. Her hair stuck together in clumps. She ran a hand across her face to remove the moisture there and stealing her shoulders walked out into the corridor.

It wasn't the ER, but it was away from Doctor House at least, the people in the corridor seemed to be mostly women, pregnant looking women, and nurses.

They stared at her in a sort of shocked way that made her look self consciously down at her now thoroughly ruined attire and blush an interest colour of scarlet.

Two uniformed men were approaching her. Security. She stopped and swallowing waited for them to reach her.

The older one, grey showing in his moustache, looked her up and down and sighed. His expression showed sympathy and that surprised her. He shook his head. " I am very sorry miss...but I think you had best come with us."

As they led her away from the corridor, back into the elevators and down again Arin let her shoulders sag. She was suddenly very tired. All she had wanted was a few minutes of distraction from the ER, get soda go back see Robyn. Go home and never enter this horrible place again. Why couldn't it have gone down like it was supposed to.

The younger man was watching her, in particular her bra region. He caught her looking at him and quickly looked away, embarrassed. Arin flushed again and crossed her sticky arms over her chest.

"Am i in trouble?" She ventured surprising herself at how confident her voice was. She didn't feel it,

The older security guard, the one with the moustache, glanced at her and removed his jacket which he draped over her shoulders in reply. He was scowling at the younger man who stared straight ahead. Thankful Arin pulled the jacket around herself.

"No miss. We saw what happened on the camera. We will take you to see Doctor Cuddy she's the dean of medicine. She's who normally deals with Doctor House's...antics shall we say?"

Arin frowned. So Doctor House had antics did he? The elevator opened into a reception lobby and She found herself being shepherded towards a large sign that said Clinic.

Inside the double doorway, a woman in a grey pencil skirt and a baby blue blouse stood talking to another woman in scrubs at the desk. Her dark hair was pulled up in an elegant knot at the nape of her neck. She turned seeing the trio approach and took in the sight of both security guards and the young girl clutching the jacket.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "What did House do this time?" She asked.


	6. Who says no to mentos? OR A close brush with an assault charge. (Aka lawyers and administrators ruin all the fun)

Chapter Five - Who says no to mentos? OR A close brush with an assault charge.

(Aka lawyers and administrators ruin all the fun)

Arin was beginning to feel like she should have stayed in bed today, it felt so long ago that she had been rudely awoken by Zen and Robyn. She watched the tree outside the window of the large office she now sat in. Orange coloured walls made the place seem airy, bright even. The sun streaming through the window added to the cozy feeling. She watched the small motes of dust rise through the air. Suspended in a sunbeam.

Across from her on the second sofa sat a bald man in a grey suit. He had been introduced to her as Bryant Kelland, one of the hospitals lawyers. The man sat with the remote for the vcr unit in his hand but instead of watching the cctv capture he was watching her.

Arin sighed deeply. The clock on the wall ticked loudly, each passing second caused another beat of anxiety in her. She only wanted to go back to Robyn and Zen, was that too much to ask? The later must have thought she had gotten lost… or worse chickened out and gone home. But that didn't seem likely anytime soon. Doctor Cuddy had listened to the security guard, found her a towel and an ice pack for her head while she watched the CCTV footage. She had to admit, the whole thing looked worse than it actually had been. There was no sound just a black and white image, half cut off by the top of the vending machine. She watched silently alongside Doctor Cuddy, while Doctor House seemed to repeatedly grab her, first by the arm, followed soon after by her face and wrist. When he tripped her, Doctor Cuddy visibly gulped, but could do nothing to stop the image showing Doctor House grab her arms again, while she repeatedly tried to fend him off. The whole thing had a bad sort of film noir vibe to it, the helpless damsel and the evil doctor.

The part where she tossed his phone actually even managed to come across as an accident, which resulted in House stomping on her with his cane. The camera feed then changed to the one that had apparently alerted the guards. A scared looking Arin entered the elevator shoulder first and jabbed the button. A maniacal looking House approached, bottle in hand. A second later and he launched it at her. It splashed all over her and she shrank back, only just in the camera's view as soda spurted all over the image.

Doctor Cuddy paused it there. She looked astounded, long suffering and sat in silence for maybe a second or so before starting to apologise over and over. Before Arin knew what was happening, Doctor Cuddy was calling damage control, which appeared to be the big guns of the hospital's lawyers. They talked, a lot… About her pressing assault charges, how Doctor House was one of the best in his field and was something of a maverick. How the hospital would, of course, ensure Doctor House apologised profusely to her in person and would pay for her dry cleaning. Which is why she found herself waiting for the Dean to go and get the man himself.

Switching her ice pack from the small towel Doctor Cuddy had given her she rubbed it along her hair again and considered the lawyer. He cleared his throat the second their eyes made contact even though she looked away again. "I must say Miss Rae it is an honour to make your acquaintance even in such circumstances. Your Grandfather is something of a Well..I suppose hero is too strong a word but I enjoy following his work."

She didn't reply.

Awkwardly he shuffled the papers on the glass coffee table and cleared his throat, "will Uh...will He be joining us today at some point?"

"No," she stated flatly. "He's in Europe on a business trip he won't be back until the start of July." This time. She added in her mind. Kelland looked...almost disappointed. She let out a mirthless sort of half chuckle.

The door to the office opened and with a dull thud on each second step, Doctor House walked in, followed by Doctor Cuddy. The expression on House's face told her two things. One that he was only half expecting to see her and two that man and woman hadn't spoken on the trek back to Doctor Cuddy's office. The Dean shut the door and strangely Arin found herself watching the two and wondering, as they stood side by side staring at each other in a silent standoff, if Cuddy had ever told House that when it came to who wore the metaphorical trousers they certainly wouldn't be called diagnosticians or something like that.

Neither moved to sit down. Five ticks of the clock and Cuddy broke eye contact first. She sat in the chair at the head of the coffee table, the video monitor took up the space at the bottom leaving only one seat either to her left or directly opposite her on the lawyers left. Pointedly both lawyer and Dean looked at House and after another few ticks he moved by Cuddy to sit opposite Arin.

Once again she found herself the subject of his unnerving, unwavering blue gaze and for the second time that day, felt like she were being X-rayed.

"Thank you for joining us Doctor House." Kelland began looking at his sofa mate. " Now I think we all know why we are here." He raised his eyebrows pointedly and glanced between Arin and House.

"Excellent," House declared before anyone else could get a word in. Deep down he probably knew that this situation would not work out well, the presence of the lawyer being the obvious giveaway. However, he never could resist the urge to mess with Cuddy and make the situation ten times worse for her, regardless of the personal ramifications. "I see security caught the little rascal that ruined my jeans and broke my cell phone." He turned and looked directly at the mortified face of his boss. "You should give those guys a raise."

Kelland frowned and opened his mouth. Cuddy beat him to it. "Doctor House…" she began then stopped short as the sound of laughing reached them all. Lawyer and Dean looked at one another then back to the supposed victim who was shaking her head a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry," Arin said, not sounding it. She looked back at House. "Little rascal? Seriously? What decade are you from?"

Cuddy swallowed. Her lips pursing. "Doctor House." She started again. " We are here to discuss the incident between you and Miss Rae earlier this afternoon. According to both security and the CCTV footage…" she trailed off looking to the lawyer for assistance.

"There is grounds for Miss Rae here to press assault charges against you and we would like to mediate this to try and come to some sort of agreement in the best interests of us all." Apparently he found the fact Arin was laughing strange but was choosing to ignore it.

House shot the kid a quick look and said, "it's for the benefit of the old lady there." He pointed his cane at Cuddy. "She's almost forty." He then turned to the lawyer, "this kid attacked a cripple. Don't I get to sue her?"

Kelland shuffled his notes without looking at House. He licked his lips. "Miss Rae," he emphasised. "Was seen on camera sitting beside you peaceably and what else is clear is that you engaged her. Not the other way around." He looked at House then. "Forcefully. I might also add Doctor House that though you are an asset to this hospital...I would strongly advise you to consider this mediation seriously."

Arin watched the two men, her right eyebrow twitched slightly upwards.

Cuddy rolled her eyes and held her hands up. Apparently she was the only one who was willing to answer House directly. "No. You don't get to sue her." She sounded annoyed as though this was obvious. "Instead, you get to apologise to her."

Arin watched him closely. This was possibly getting weirder by the second. She considered the people in the room one at a time and then sighed almost inaudibly. There was no way that these two were going to get an apology out of this guy. She rubbed her right temple with her finger tips and closed one eye. What, she wondered, was the quickest way out of this? Her eyes flickered towards the door as if she were contemplating just walking out.

House gave Cuddy a devilish smirk. "Cuddy," he began, his tone matching the smile. "We both know that's not going to happen."

"Don't finish that sentiment Doctor House," Kelland said sternly. "You will apologise to Miss Rae and you will pay for any damages and dry cleaning, that's the minimum that the hospital asks for you to do in this circumstance. It's not up for debate."

"Let me think about that for a moment." House paused, feigning contemplation. "Ummmm, nope. No dice. But hey, it was worth a try."

Arin felt the corners of her mouth twitch slightly. She shook her head and looked away from the men. Hand under her chin she watched a furious looking Cuddy trying not to blow her top.

Kelland stared House down for a second then turning lifted the remote from the player and pressed a button, he played it in double time watching quietly as the CCTV version of events, the one that painted House in a particularly bad light, was displayed to the four of them. When the camera in the elevator was soaked the lawyer hit pause and fixed House with a neutral expression.

"Ummm… she started it…" House ventured, still not taking the matter remotely seriously.

Before Kelland responded or House could continue with his insanity, Cuddy intervened. "Oh stop it! House, there is CCTV footage that shows that YOU started it! Like you ALWAYS start it!" She paused, seething with rage. "Now we," she indicated Kelland and herself, "are ending it."

Arin blinked and clearly forgetting herself and where she was gave House a look that said. 'Is She always like this?'

House caught sight of the look the girl gave him and returned it with one that said 'Oh Yeah!'. Internally he smiled, she caught on pretty quick.

Arin's head tilted ever so slightly in a 'bummer, sucks to be you' sort of way before she returned to leaning her chin into her hand. Bored.

"Don't you understand who she is?" Cuddy hissed at House, her eyes flickering to Arin almost as if she hoped that the girl wouldn't hear her. "She's the granddaughter of supreme court justice Frederick Rae, the same Frederick Rae who is due to be elected to the Senet."

"Sebastian." Arin's voice said. Her eyes still locked on the door. Cuddy turned to look at her. "Frederick Sebastian Rae," she clarified. "The third if you want to get technical."

"Wow!" House declared, in mock alarm. "Must be serious, he's got a middle name and a number."

"Yeah.' Arin breathed as Cuddy and the lawyer started a conversation in hushed voices. She looked at House again. "And I've got your number." Her eyes widened ever so slightly as if only aware that he may have heard her. Her cheeks flushed bright pink.

"You wish kiddo. I only give my number out after the second date." He then gave the girl an exaggerated wink.

Cuddy and Kelland stopped, mouths open and looked incredulously at House but before either could retort Arin's eyes narrowed. "Oh Doctor House…" she put a hand over her chest. "...I bet you say that to all the girls you hose down. Guess you don't get many numbers." She raised her eyebrow at him as if to say, your move.

Well, that was… unexpected, House thought. If the girl hadn't flipped out on him upstairs and landed him here in Cuddy's office he might have liked her… strictly in a manner that was appropriate for an over forty year old man to like a teenage girl of course.

Cuddy and Kelland seemed unsure what to do. Both looked between the pair, supposed victim and attacker, as if unsure how to proceed. Kelland in particular shuffled his papers awkwardly again which seemed to capture the girls attention

"Look." She began with a sigh, her hand rubbing her right temple again. " With all due respect to you Doctor Cuddy and Mr Kelland, but any idiot could walk in here and see that this guy isn't going to apologise for anything. "

"I assure you Miss Rae…" he stopped short when the girl held a hand up at him. Eyes flashing as if she were used to being listened to when she spoke.

"As I was saying. While I am in no two minds about the fact that Doctor House is very good at his job and Doctor Cuddy would happily enforce whatever punishment you deemed a satisfactory recompense, I am not interested." She drew a breath and fixed House with a calm expression.

Kelland and Cuddy exchanged looks that very clearly said they were concerned where this was about to go. Cuddy twisted her bracelet around her wrist and shook her head slightly, eyes flickering to House as they waited for the blow to fall.

House stood looking completely unfazed. He must have been through five, wait no six, similar meetings since he started working at PPTH. In the end Cuddy would realise that it was in her best interests to just remove him from the situation and let the lawyer deal with some form of compensation. He'd get to escape, have to deal with a 'severe talking to' at a later date and ultimately fob off the extra clinic hours onto his team. Case closed.

"Doctor House... I apologise for the incident with your phone. I was stressed as a result of my friends accident and the entire thing was unfortunate and inappropriate. Please accept my sincere apologies and I will of course happily compensate you for any damage to your property including your jeans and shoes." She stood and pulling a purse from her back pocket removed two soggy bills, which she offered across the table to House. "They will need drying out I am afraid."

The initial expression that formed on House's face was one of confusion. However, his brain quickly did the math on the situation. Not only had this girl just indicated that she was waving her right to sue, but had apologised to him and, he reached out a hand and picked up the damp bills, given him $200 into the bargain. His expression shifted to one that said he was the cat who had gotten not only the cream, but the cow and the dairy farmer into the bargain. Cuddy was going to be so pissed but unable to do a thing about it, result!

Arin put her purse away and turning to the stunned lawyer and Dean she said, "can I go now?"

Kelland was a flurry of motion, " Uhh...why...yes. Certainly Miss Rae, you were never being detained of course. We just...I mean to say. " he brought out a piece of A4 Paper which he quickly noted some things down on. "Of course if that is what you wish, I will have to ask you to sign this stating that you are happy with the resolution we...uh..we have...agreed on." He trailed off. "As you are a minor...we would need a parent or guardian…" he trailed off again as Arin picked up a pen from the table and waved her hand at him in a shut up and give me it gesture.

"Trust me, you wont need to cover your backs. I won't take this to court and you won't be hearing about it again." She tugged the paper from the lawyer and signed her name with the flourish of those used to signing for things. Her signature was loopy and well practised. She offered the paper back to Kelland and then shook the hand the lawyer offered in return.

"Thank you for the ice pack Doctor Cuddy," she then added turning to the Dean and offering her hand to shake too. The stunned looking woman seemed incapable of speech and merely nodded her head. Finally Arin offered her hand across the table to her attacker. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"I'd say it was a pleasure Doctor House, but that would be a downright lie. So…" she waited for him to take her hand.

"Don't worry, kiddo," House took the hand he was being offered; her fingers were still cold. "We'll always have Sunkist."

Arin smiled faintly and ever so slightly pulled her hand back towards herself. Her grip on House didn't relent however, bringing him slightly closer to her. She leaned in. "Only till the concussion deals with it." She said conspiritaly so only he would hear and then let go. She walked away then towards the door without a backwards glance.

House frowned and made a mental note to page Cameron after he had finished with Cuddy. That kid was getting treatment whether she wanted it or not.

Once outside the office Arin walked quickly through the clinic and out. In the lobby she found the elevators and a bench beside them and walked over. Sinking down she let loose the breath she had been holding and her shoulders sagged. That last comment to him had been stupid but she couldn't help it. She didn't want him to have the last word. She put her head back against the wall and tried to get control of her hammering heart before finding her way back to the ER.

Back in Cuddy's office the dean of medicine surveyed the two men and drawing a breath said, "well...that went..better than Iexpected."

"I couldn't agree more. I got an apology and two hundred big ones. We should do this more often."

Kelland surveyed the door the girl had just left through. He let loose a sigh himself sounding almost relieved. He began packing up his papers. "I agree" he laughed humorlessly and glanced at House. "You're like the Doctor with nine lives, House. Given the footage, the witness testimony from security, how pale she was and the mess she was in not to mention her connections, i was sure that was it for you this time. She really had us over a barrel."

Cuddy frowned and shook her head at the diagnostician. " Have you anything to say for yourself?" She asked.

"Always brush after meals?" House offered, not really caring for the eventual response. Kelland had unwittingly presented a puzzle to him that he had completely ignored in his delight at being able to rub Cuddy's nose in his mess. Why had the girl, soaked as she was, elected to throw the game and indeed pay him for the pleasure? She could have taken both him and Cuddy for everything they had. He could almost see the headline 'senator's granddaughter, honour student, attacked by mad drugged out doctor. Hospital pays huge settlement. Doctor fired.'

Cuddy put a hand tiredly over her eyes and then pointed out of the door. "I'm not amused, I'm not impressed." She said then waved her hand at him as if she were sick of looking at him. "Go...just go to the clinic and do your damned job. Remind me why I put up with you, remind me that despite the fact you are a terrible, selfish excuse for a human being that you are a good doctor. Remind me of all the reasons I shouldn't fire your ass for damaging hospital property and acting like a crazed out of control child. I'm adding ten more hours clinic duty to your schedule. Don't think this is over."

House paid not one iota to Cuddy's idle threats as he strode out of the office. He had a wet bandit to track down.


End file.
